Don't Go Gently Into the Night
by Kalvinanne
Summary: So this is AU from 7x05 on and it isn't Tiva sorry guys . I've got Tony taking control of his own team and showing off his skills, and making new friends outside of Team Gibbs the Team will play central characters . It should have tons of humour with a side order of hurt/comfort with physical pain some mention of torture past tense-T rating I think and mental conflict.
1. Chapter 1

**First, NCIS is not mine *tear* and they get the credit for the original characters.**

_**Hey guys, so this is totally my first ever story being posted, and as mentioned in my profile, I am really bad at the whole technology thing so I could totally be messing this up. And until I figure it out I apologize for any errors at all :( **_

_**Soo, this takes place in season seven immediately following episode five: Code of Conduct. The entire Benoit case is over and done with and in the past. Tony's relationship with the team is still off. Gibbs has all of his memories back but they haven't gotten their relationship back to normal. He and Ziva have made up after their issues, but only outwardly. Tony is still hurt by the whole affair. **_

_**Please be kind, any constructive criticism is totally appreciated, feel free to make suggestions or corrections (though, I do have a plan for this story and it does not involve Tiva, I'm sorry). No meanness please :) and enjoy and review :D Oh and the title is based off of Seether "yeah", excellent song which totally fits my story hehe.**_

ch 1

He knocked on the door, which was surprisingly answered by Keira. Her adorable eyes got big and round as she charged him with a giant hug that took his breath away and shot pain across his back and chest. He grabbed the railing next to him, clenched fiercely, and breathed sharply as he tried not to react in pain. The little girl didn't need to be overly worried. "Hey sweetie, I didn't know you would be here today. It's a school day isn't it?" He asked in an ever so taut voice. "But, hon, I have a bit of an owie on my stomach so maybe you could loosen your grip."

She jumped back, "Oh I'm sorry Tony, did I hurt you, are you okay? What happened?"

Meanwhile, her mom had made her way to the door and watched the short exchange, glancing closely at Tony after she heard him say he was hurt. He had told the girls that he wouldn't be around for a month or so because he had some important work with the police. He hadn't gone into detail, but from the information he gave them, Tony figured they understood that this so called work was undercover.

Tony was certain that the dark circles under his eyes were obvious. She probably wondered why he was here, he had already put his foot in his mouth by saying that he thought the kids should be at school. She pursed her lips. They barely knew each other. She had been pissed off at him originally when they first met. He had been unable to express to her exactly what his intentions were. So far they had smacked heads several times, but he figured that Nala couldn't dismiss the fact that her two daughters needed a male role model and that he was willing and hopefully capable of filling that role. She had tried to separate them on several occasions but the girls had kicked up a fuss. At the moment she had come to a standstill; she hadn't welcomed him with open arms but she wasn't kicking him out of her home.

Her legs were planted firmly on the ground in a defensive move that spoke much about her opinion of him. She was an intelligent woman and he was certain that she was pondering why he had come to the house to meet with _her_. Tony did not get embarrassed…at least that's what everybody thought. However, without realizing it, his eyes filled with humiliation.

"Well, umm, I better go. I just thought I'd quickly stop by to say hi, but I should be getting back to work."

She raised her hand to crush his pathetic attempt at avoiding the issue. "Mr. DiNozzo," he grimaced at her title for him, she always called him by his last name. "You thought the girls were at school, were you stopping by to say hi to me?" Her voice was dry, bored even and did not encourage him to open up about the situation. He watched as she got a glare from the tiny girl. She shrugged her shoulders displaying an innocent face. The girl giggled but then glared again and moved closer to him, careful to hug his legs this time.

"Did that hurt Tony?" She asked.

"Nope that was perfect." He grinned before looking to the mother. "Well I just wanted to tell you that I was done with my special assignment and available for the girls and I wanted to see when would be a good time for you."

"Really?" She asked oozing doubt to his clear displeasure and disbelief.

Now was time for a hasty retreat. As he attempted to disengage Keira he banged his back up against the door knob and he felt his face drain of colour. He prayed that his facial expression didn't change. He continued to smile and try and wheedle his leg out of her tight hold, but he knew there was a slight gasp in his voice.

Out of the corner of his eye he spotted Nala nearing him. He prayed she and Tawnie didn't talk about him, if that was the case she would probably figure out his problem. Tawnie was always on his back about the fact that he attracted trouble like a magnet. She also nagged him about going to a doctor. His lips turned up at the thought. Nala was a nurse, if she knew a bit about his personality she may figure out that he actually needed her help.

Before he had a chance to process these thoughts she had made her move. Nala pulled her daughter off of him and then as he turned to go she gave him a quick, but firm pat on the back. Her hand landed right on the spot Tony was concerned about and he let out a bit of a groan,hoping she felt guilty. He was mad, this situation was getting out of control.

Her expression showed surprise, "Get your butt back in here mister, did you come here seeking some medical help, hmm?" She was trying to remain aloof but a hint of her worrying mom voice dripped in. His shoulders drooped and he turned around to face her. Again that glint of embarrassment showed itself and he was aware, he could feel his cheeks burning up. His distaste aka fear of doctors was written all over his face, he was sure of it.

She smirked a little again. "I think I felt some stitching back there?" She stated boldly. He was wasting her time.

He tried to catch her eye, giving her what he hoped was a conspiratorial look. Instead he just appeared to be squinting his eyebrows in a funny expression. She gave him a quizzical look and he dramatically stuck his hand on his face.

He beckoned her over and whispered in her ear, "I umm pulled out some stitches and I was hoping you could patch me up, but the, uh, cut is kinda nasty and I didn't want to scare Keira, and it's okay, I can deal with it myself. So don't worry." He finished this run on sentence in a reassuring voice that he doubted did anything to reassure her in any way.

She firmly gripped his arm in a gesture to stop. Then she turned to the little one who had at this point taken out Tony's badge from his pants pocket and was peering through the contents. She was oblivious to their conversation.

"Keira honey, I need you to do me a favour. Could you go and tidy up the basement, I know you guys left it in a mess and I am just going to send Tony home okay." He held out his hand for the wallet. She stuck out her tongue, handed over her findings and made her way down stairs.

"You are not leaving Buster." She muttered under her breath, "How long will this take?" She put her hand on his mouth when he tried to excuse himself and followed this up with her best you better behave glare and raised an eyebrow. He was startled by this bold move, what was he, her kid?

He backed up, and out loud said, "Well, it might take some time, I am assuming you will need to take out the rest of the stitching and then restitch it. And the cut is pretty long."

"Alright, we are going to do this in my bathroom. Tawnie is over at her friend's house, the girls had a PD day. So I am not worried about her, but if this cut is that gruesome I don`t want to risk Keira coming upstairs and getting face to face with this. We will go in my bathroom where I can lock the door. You go on up and take off your shirt and I will bring up the medical supplies okay? I don`t have any numbing solution though." He nodded and gave her grateful puppy dog eyes upon receiving directions to her room.

Walking slowly, Tony made his way upstairs and down the hall. She had decorated simply but tastefully. There were cute photos of the girls throughout and one or two with her as well, most of the group shots appeared recent. All three women looked alike, he would bet money that Nala looked very similar to her daughters at their age. All three women had the same naturally tan skin, dark black hair and big brown eyes. Nala's hair was very long, nearly to her waist. Tawnie had evidently decided she did not want to follow her mom's footsteps in this way, she had hers cut to shoulder length, and it had an obstinate curl in it unlike the straight hair of the other members of the trio. He spotted both girl's rooms, doors open, and mess evident. He smiled, glad that they had the freedom to make a mess.

Tony noted the posters on the oldest daughter's wall. She was into hard rock and borderline screamo. He spotted posters for Three Days Grace, Billy Talent and the Devil wears Prada and smirked. She was slightly punk, but such a sweetie, as usual. Most girls were pretty soft even if they didn't look it or act it. Sure there were definitely the exceptions, but in his experience the hardest, toughest female cops still held that sensitive side. You simply had to look deeper and get to really know them. Not that he would tell a girl that, she'd probably make some frustrated comment about him being sexist when he really wasn't trying to be.

He snorted to himself. Women. In his gut he knew Nala would take him out if she heard him say anything along those lines. She was manhandling him into accepting her help, which he was grateful for, cause he hadn't been sure who to turn to. Couldn't go to Ducky, things were off between them, he honestly felt uncomfortable with nearly everyone on the team, and had been feeling that way for months now. Going to see Jimmy would have been best, but Palmer was away at a medical conference this week. Tony found himself turning to him more and more, and he planned on making him his official doctor when Jimmy finished getting his medical license. He loved Ducky, he did, but the guy was Gibbs' best friend and he didn't trust him not to confide in Gibbs. Tony stopped those thoughts right there, he didn't want to continue on that road or he'd be jumping off a cliff at the end.

The room at the end of the hall had to be her bedroom, the door was closed. _Was she hiding a mess in ther_e_?_ Tony liked to play the guessing game whenever he met anyone. It made it that much more fun in getting to know them, as he checked off his correct and very incorrect guesses. Based on their few encounters he had noted that she usually had her dark hair pinned up in some kind of messy bun. Also, he noticed that she had a slightly chic sense of style that was sadly hampered by the wrinkles that always appeared on her clothing. He had her pinned as a messy/clean person. She needed organization, and tidiness, she felt that was her job as a mom, but she didn't always succeed in that. He opened the door and gazed around. The room was tidy, nothing on the floor, but the laundry basket was full and one of the drawers had stuff sticking out. Check one, at this point he walked into the on suite bathroom, yup the mess continued in here, again it was concealed. It looked pretty tidy, except for the toothpaste missing its lid and if you opened any of the drawers. He nearly laughed out loud.

Now to take off his shirt, he had been hoping to somehow finagle his way out of her seeing his chest, but there was no way now. The plan had been to lift up the back of his shirt for her but she wanted it off. And if he took it off well then he couldn't just sit with his back to her when she entered. Tony grumbled to himself about this turn of events, but took off the shirt, he didn't want to argue with the woman any more; he would just deal with her mothering instincts. The shirt brushed against the open wound on his back as he removed it, Tony winced in the process. The weeklong stay in the hospital was brutal, but his ribs weren't broken and he didn't have many bruises, so fortunately they couldn't force him to stay longer.

Usually in his experience those who tortured others escalated in their violence, they began with beating, kicking and punching, then maybe bars or bats. After that they moved onto knives or cigarettes. This guy had informed Tony that he liked his captives bloody when he beat them. Tony had been literally dripping blood when they hung him from the ceiling and began the beating. They had only gotten in a few kicks when the Feds burst in. The Feds had actually had his back in this case and that was nice. Though that meant he and Gibbs missed the whole you saved me makeup scene that they desperately needed. He hadn't had a good talk with the guy in a while.

Either way the team hadn't known the full extent of his injuries except for Gibbs. They had been in to visit him, but Ziva and McGee had cracked a few jokes about him blowing his cover and getting caught, saying he mustn't be that great undercover. He had bit back his anger at them, wanting to declare that the Feds requested him and that he broke cover in order to save a young girl who was going to be severely raped and killed. He had gotten her out at the cost of his cover and Fornell had already assured him that he made the right decision.

Either way his reaction would have been petty and chances were the two jesters wouldn't have recognized the truth in his statement. They were too stuck in their views of him. His thoughts were interrupted by a cleared throat. He looked up to see Nala standing there. Two thoughts crossed his mind, damn I went there again and second, she didn't flinch. This is going well.

"Your cover got broken?" She asked with compassion as well as a touch of pain that resonated in her voice.

He did not hear this, instead he heard the doubt he expected and he reacted defensively. "Yes it was, but not because I suck at my job, for your information, I purposefully broke my cover to protect a girl from what would have been a brutal rape and possibly murder, okay?"

The vehemence in his voice shocked her and him. He quickly stuttered out an apology; remorse ringing in his every word. "Geez, I am sorry, you don't need some guy yelling at you. I am really sorry. It's just my team-some people have been doubting my actions in the field, and really that is no excuse at all actually. But um…" At this point Tony ran out of words.

He watched her eyes looking for some clue as to how she was taking this. The startled doe eye look left her eyes, to be replaced with surprise and then sincere acceptance_. What was she surprised about_? He wondered.

She quickly replied, "Hey, it's okay, I understand, bad day at work, annoying co-workers. I gotcha." He smiled glad at her easy acceptance and lack of questions, he knew she had kind of brushed over the subject, and he appreciated her for doing that. He met her eyes and he tried to convey that.

She continued speaking, "Now let's see what you need stitching. These all look pretty good, you haven't been over exerting yourself, except for the stitching you tore out today?" She smirked a little at this statement and so did he as he felt the tenseness in his back drain.

"Yeah, I uhh, well actually it's kinda silly. I slipped in my house on some water I spilled." He fibbed.

"Honesty please?" She said, probably waiting for a story about heading back to work too soon.

"Geez, mum radar much? Well, see I sometimes prank my coworkers, in all fun, you know. I am sure you have guessed that I am kinda immature. And they decided to get me back. Loosened the screws in my chair. They thought it was pretty funny." He tried to smile. He could tell his smile was not working, she looked angry.

"But you're hurt, just out of the hospital, don't they know that? I mean, for frigs sake you're like a human stitched puzzle of some sort. It's like Humpty dumpty without the whole menacing I stole the golden egg thing, and you know they put you back together again."

This time he looked at her with complete confusion. She turned bright red.

"Puss in Boots." She answered the unspoken question. But this didn't clear anything up, Tony maintained the blank stare. "You know Shrek, it was like a modern retake on the Disney princess?" He continued to stare quizzically. "Well I guess you are a guy, you probably skipped Disney princess, but, okay, maybe it is just me, I am a bit of a cartoon buff." She laughed at herself.

Tony laughed, "I am a movie buff, but not the cartoon type, I didn't really watch any cartoons as a kid, none of the Disney movies either and well, I don't have kids soo." He finished in a light tone.

"Well, that has to be remedied immediately. Puss in Boots is hilarious, you have to see it!" She stopped short after saying that.

He could read her like a book. She was mortified, probably because she just told a grown man to watch a movie entitled "Puss in Boots". She didn't even know him. He began to laugh harder, this woman was just too much.

"Well, enough of that, how bout I get down to stitching, nothing seems amiss with your chest." He watched as her tan skin turned even brighter red, it was obvious that she was embarrassed. Again he felt like he could read her thoughts. He was sure they went something like, "did I just say that out loud". He winked, but turned around. He heard a little breath and saw her hand clench out of the corner of his eye.

She patted his shoulder gingerly. "Okay, I can deal with this, I'm going to have to cut the other stitches, there are only a few left and I'd prefer for the sewing to be seamless from top to bottom. It's going to really hurt without any numbing agent.

His response was every bit the macho cop he had to be. "Honey, I will be fine, I understand it will hurt, but I'm sure you have surmised from what your daughter has told you and the fact that I am seeking you for help that I have an ever so small fear of doctors. I prefer the pain. I know, it's pathetic." His shoulders shrugged and his eyes looked down to the floor while he spoke.

"Hey, it's not pathetic, I am sure your fear of doctors came from somewhere. It's not my job to judge nor is it anyone else's. Well, I am going to go ahead and get at this. Sorry if I ramble but don't feel you have to answer."

At that she pulled out some medical scissors and began to cut the stitches out. This is usually not too painful but since the cut was still in the healing process it was not exactly pleasant. It was nothing though in comparison to the stitching, which dangit really hurt. Sure it didn't compare to the torture, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt. However, Tony knew that this was way better than being in a hospital. Just being in the building made him sick, it was filled with doctors. He gripped the toilet lid tightly and smirked to himself. She must have seen cause she laughed and made a comment about this being a great hospital room. He wasn't really paying any attention and she slowly quieted.

Suddenly she spoke up, "Tony, when are you due back at work? Is this a lunch break or something? I don't really know how these things work with cops." He could hear the curiosity in her voice, curiosity mixed with apprehension.

He answered hoping she wouldn't be upset. The woman was too intelligent for her own good. "Yeah, it is a lunch break, and I am due back soon, probably less than a half hour. Don't worry about rushing. If I'm late I'm late."

"And when did you rip these stitches out?"

_Crap_

"Tony…"

"This morning when I came into work." He mumbled.

"Which was at what time?"

"8am"

"You didn't seek help until now! Let me guess no one knows you are hurt!"

He was silent in reaction to her statement, gaging flight or fight. His shoulder muscles tensed under her hands.

"Sorry, I'm not your mom. Wounded people bring that side out in me. I mean I barely know you. I just worry." His shoulders relaxed despite her constant threading of the needle.

"No worries, it's nice to be worried about even if it's in a kinda scary way." He said.

She poked him in the cheek, the only skin that wasn't hurt, and his face. Good thing they left that alone.

"I have nice bone structure ehh." He said with a wink.

"I hadn't noticed." She smiled. He whimpered.

"Did I hurt you?" she asked, seriousness right back in place.

"Emotionally yes." She poked him in the cheek again.

"Jerkwad."

"Meanie pants"

"Well, that's the last stitch." She said putting an end to their discussion. "Do you really have to go back to work? Honestly some rest would be beneficial." He shrugged and slowly rolled his shoulders after standing up from the toilet.

"I'm a tough guy." He said with another one of those dumb winks. She poked him in the cheek again.

"Oh you're tough alright." She grumbled to herself about macho men and led the way out of the washroom.

"Nala, you're a doll; thanks so much for stitching Humpty back together. You know, I really ought to come over here once in a while with the girls. We could have a movie night, watch Puss in Boots, among other Disney movies. Something tells me you are an animation addict and I would love to have some semblance of friendship with you. I know your daughters are always on me to figure out how to sweet talk you into liking me. Though they have also informed me that it will be impossible cause you are a brick wall." Upon seeing her eyes roll he said, "Their words not mine." With his most innocent look.

He waited for her response, joking aside he was trying to be serious. He wanted to know if he was welcome.

"Okay, how about you come back one week from today, next Friday night. Come for seven and we will watch Puss and Boots and I can check on your stitches. I would say that they should be good to come out in one to two weeks. If you want I can remove them for you?" Internally he cheered, point for DiNozzo.

"You are an angel. Alright, I will see you then and I can bring the junk food, okay? Are you sure about the stitches, I mean there are a lot, it will be time consuming and off the clock?"

"Tony, er Mr. DiNozzo, err Tony. Okay, I think I will just call you Tony, I mean I've stitched you up so Mr. DiNozzo seems kinda formal. I think it's just your name, the way it sounds that makes me feel like we are really close friends, which we aren't. That sounded really harsh. I just mean that the name Tony sounds like a nickname." She finished her rant looking flustered.

He laughed out loud, "Well Tony is a nickname, but my full name carries bad memories. And if you want you can call me Aidan, it has a more serious nature to it."

"Is that your middle name?"

"Nope"

"Well, what relation does it have to you?"

"None whatsoever, it simply sounded more formal, has a nice ring to it. I could totally be an Aidan."

She dissolved into laughter. "Well, I think that is a great idea…Aidan." She giggled a little bit more.

She doesn't realize that she has essentially given me a pet name thus upping our closeness factor. Not that he would ever tell her that. To be honest he thought it was cute and he really didn't see Nala as a woman he planned on engaging in anything beyond friendship. There were two reasons for this. The first one being that he saw her like her daughters, as one more little girl for him to take under his wing. And second, if he saw her as more then he would have walked away- he didn't want a relationship, he was still really hurt by the last woman he liked…Ziva.

He winced a little. See right there, that wince, evidence that he was not good at this whole relationship thing. Geesh, if he didn't know that he needed someone to love him he would have given up on this whole relationship deal ages ago, accepting his dad's words that he was worthless and useless and thus clearly not deserving of someone. But, despite the brainwashing he knew that he needed to find love.

It was one of the most ridiculous things he believed in, and he certainly would never tell his co-workers about his feelings, but he continued to believe in it. And with days like he had been having lately, when the family that he had found in his team acted like his biological family, well it was the only thing he was only holding onto. By this time he had made it down the steps and towards the door. Nala had carefully checked to make sure the road was clear for her daughter noting in surprise that she hadn't come upstairs once. She then stated that the little one either turned on some cartoons or fell asleep. He wished her a good day and she told him to be careful and that was that. He was headed back to work.

_**ααααα ααααα**_

Nala shut the door behind him. She settled herself in a sofa, feeling muscles loosen that she did not realize were so taut.

_Well, that was interesting. I was not expecting a scenario of that sort. _

Somehow this overgrown child had found a spot in her heart. Suddenly a thought came to mind, wouldn't his co-workers have forced him to visit a hospital, or even his boss upon him getting hurt? This then forced her to realize that he must have masked his pain somehow. They hadn't even realized they hurt him. The guy clearly had a high pain tolerance.

She was surprised at the sheer frustration in his voice, Tony was a very laid back man, always joking with her daughters. She was also taken aback by his apology. She hadn't thought he was the apologetic kind of person. You always tell yourself never to judge a book by its cover she thought to herself and here you just have. What do you even know about this guy, hmm?

Her first thoughts upon his arriving at her door were not necessarily the pleasant kind. She had him registered as a cocky, fairly arrogant ladies man. She took her turn to internally grimace. Why was she letting him hang out with her daughters…oh that's right, she had somehow gotten backed into the corner. Somewhere along the way she had forgotten who was the parent.

Aside from her parenting, apparently her children were better judges of character then her. But, then again a girl has to be careful, and she had every right to be cautious and judge him, simply because he is a strange man. She felt slightly mollified. Friday's movie night would be an enlightening experience.

_**ααααα ααααα**_

Tony was about a half hour late, but seeing as he was still on cold cases after his injury he wasn't too worried. He made his way through security and found himself back in his cubicle. He saw Tim look over at Ziva and none too secretly hand her a twenty dollar bill. Real funny he thought to himself sarcastically. I mean really, he knew that he played pranks on them, and this wasn't that mean at all as far as pranks go. Really he was just getting sensitive. Man up Tony. He told himself.

His thoughts were interrupted. "Tony, you know a quickie is supposed to be quick. You've been gone for almost an hour and a half."

"Ziva, Don't forget it takes time to actually get a girl, and Tony is getting older."

"Hey McGee, harsh words there, I'm not that old." Tony had come up with a couple nasty zingers to hurl Tim's way but he really did not want to put himself at their level. Although, it was getting harder by the day."

He heard Gibbs' firm steps coming up and he internally told himself not to flinch at the head smack coming his way. For the past month he had found himself cringing at every smack. It had never been an issue before, it was actually comforting usually to get one. It was like a sign of affection from his gruff boss. But at the moment he was really not feeling any amicable feelings towards the guy…at all. And the smacks upside the head just pissed him off as well as set off his flinching factor. As a kid he learned real fast to move when in danger of getting hit or kicked. He had fast reflexes especially when it came to self-defence and he was having a hard time turning them off around Gibbs. He was worried that one day he might dodge and backhand the man.

Sure enough the smack came, followed by a short sentence about the fact that he didn't care what Tony did on his break but he didn't want it cutting into work time.

The rest of the day was slow. Tony found the cold cases interesting. Sure some of them held no new leads, but he loved solving crimes, and the idea of an uncrack-able case motivated him. He was tired and in pain though from the stitches and he couldn't wait for the day to end. He was quiet but he tried to keep up the light banter. He let their slightly harsh jokes roll over his shoulders. Emphasis on the slightly part he told himself and stop being a girl. You give some and you take some. He would just look forward to his Friday night with the girls. That made him smile on the inside. He was curious about this movie she had planned. He had never heard of it, he didn't usually go to the theater, he had enough movies and a nice enough set up at his house.

The weekend was slow and he slept through most of it. The week had started off slow also. Finally it was Tuesday night, his weekly hang out with Tawnie. Tony made his way to her home; upon entering he gave Keira a soft pat. The little girl hugged his legs still mindful of his owie. Kid had good memory he thought to himself. He looked over at Tawnie, she looked real happy to see him and that made his heart go all soft and gooey. Change was evident in her. No it wasn't about outward appearances, he didn't want her to become a preppy Barbie doll. It was about little mannerisms and the inner confidence and happiness that comes with acceptance.

He thought back to their first meeting several months ago…

_**whew, one chapter down, I hope you guys liked it hehe and I have a decent amount of this written, but I am totally looking for a beta, someone who wants to review look over my stuff :), cause I don't think I have time to reread and reread for corrections myself, and I could use an extra set of eyes. I work full-time soo updating will hopefully be on a decent basis, but I apologize for any slowness :(. **_

_**I am looking for feedback or reviews to see if I should try and continue this (I have a lot more written, but not sure if you guys want it haha). Oh and warning I am a whump fan, so expect Tony pain hahahaha (evil laugh insert here).**_


	2. Chapter 2

**First off, NCIS is not my creation in any way and I own none of it**

**Yay, a new chapter a new chapter ;). I'm sorry its been almost a week I hope to be a little bit faster than that from now on . Just so you guys know I have a ton written but I am trying to write a chappie a week so that I always have a lot of space if I get stuck one week so you aren't ever left hanging. This chapter is as equally long as the last one so I hope you guys are happy. Soo I got a whole ton of ppl. add my story to the update thingy (whatever it is actually called) hehehe and it made me super super happy. You guys are the best thanks for liking my story. I also very much appreciated the comments they made me happy too. I hope you guys continue to like.**

**Also, I am still looking for a Beta… But The amazing amazing SASundance offered to read over my first chapter and do some reviews while I am looking for someone to officially and permanently look things over. And wow did she ever do a great job finding tons of grammar and helping make my story better. Any mistakes are totally my own. Also, you guys should check out her stuff she just recently posted her own work "I'm Better Than That" and I totally loved it.**

**Love, Kalvinanne**

Chapter two

Few months earlier…

They had been looking into the murder of a Lieutenant John Grames. He had been killed and his wife Helen had gone missing; she was a teacher at a local high school. Gibbs had ordered Tim and Tony to go and interview her students. One girl in particular had stood out. She was painfully shy, barely spoke a word to Tim when he attempted to interview her. The two agents had split up, but Tim finally came over to Tony at a break and explained he couldn't get a thing out of the girl. Tony had decided to step in and takeover, telling Tim to interview the next kid in his lineup.

Tony looked in on the girl through the door window. People were shy for one or two reasons in his experience. They were shy naturally, some people really were more introverted then others, or they became shy due to their environment. For instance, his co-workers never would have guessed that for most of his younger years up until high school he was extremely shy and didn't speak to anyone. He had the outgoing loud personality beaten right out of him by the age of seven. He had no idea which one she was, but either type should be approached in the same way in his opinion. They should be treated with respect, made to feel comfortable and confident, and given some semblance of control. He knocked on the door before entering, letting her know that he was going to come in. Then he sat down at the table in front of her.

He took in her clothing; hmm the kid had some style going on, a bit of a punk look, but not emo. She was kinda cool, but he bet her shyness kept her from making friends. Her blouse had short sleeves so probably no abuse. Probably was the key word, but it was a good guess, though there was always the possibility she had experienced abuse in the past and simply hadn't moved on from it. Thoughts to file away he concluded.

"Hey Kiddo, my name is Tony. So basically you managed to stonewall my partner. Which is kinda impressive seeing as it is his job to interview people." He saw a slight smirk come out of that comment. "But, I really hope that I don't fail, see I am supposed to be the senior officer, if I can't get anything out of you, my boss, well he's a Marine. I don't know what you know about them…" He paused looking to see her reaction. She only shrugged. He continued, " Well he's a bit of a hard ass-rehghj." He stumbled over the possible swear word. _Was *ss a swear word? He wasn't really sure._ She grinned cheekily at his cover up. "Anyways, I will definitely expect a head smack from him." _He had purposefully included that last bit, waiting to see if he could get a flicker of fear, or even a laugh from the girl. Either would be of benefit in his attempt to get the girl to open up. At this point she chose to speak, hmm the Protector Type._

"He hits you?" She said this with a glare. _Score one, she had spoken._

"Yup, pretty much. Fortunately he doesn't treat me like a punching bag, I definitely don't have a chance against a Marine. It's more like a smack to the back of the head." He paused to demonstrate. "It's like a wake-up call. See he has kinda adopted me as his kid. Just a little bit." _Or he had, not so much recently he thought to himself woefully._ "And, well my dad didn't do so good of a job teaching me. Shipped me off to boarding school at twelve, and I haven't really grown up yet. So sometimes my boss gives me a bit of a smack to the head to get me back on track when I get distracted or if I prank my team mates."

He had opened up to her and he had provided her with several topics. She could question about the boarding school, his dad, or go for the less personal and question the pranking. Her eyes reflected doubt as he explained at the beginning the fact that his boss hit him. She was having none of that, clearly she saw physical abuse as wrong and not deserving. He watched her eyes soften with sadness when she heard he was shipped out at twelve. Yup, a protective and motherly type for sure. Then the same eyes widened with his pranking question. Would she pry into his personal life, he was willing to go there if it was necessary, none of his co-workers were around to overhear.

She clasped her hands together, leaning her head forward to rest on her hands and stared at him. "You prank your co-workers? How old are you?"

"Whoa now, don't you know asking someone their age is kinda rude?" He stated, making it very clear that he was joking with an overly raised eyebrow and a hurt look on his face.

"That only applies to women." She stated in defence.

"Fine, I'm twenty-five."

"That's not possible, you are definitely older than that." Her eyebrow's stood up.

"Okay, seriously, harsh words, kid, harsh. You can't call me old, I'm a federal agent, I'm like an authority figure."

"Who pulls pranks? Doesn't sound very authoritative to me."

His face split into a grin at that comment. "I am going to ignore that last statement. And yes I prank my co-workers, it lightens them up, plus I gotta keep my pranking skills top notch, you never know when they might become necessary."

"Necessary, really? When would pranks ever be necessary?"

He had a quick response handy: pranks had been very necessary when he was in school. He had been so shy all through boarding school and he had no friends. But one guy, Andrew Walters, had taken him under his wing in his last year of high school. He had begged Tony to help him with pranks and the two had eventually become close and he had helped Tony open right up. However, he felt this would hit too close to home with the girl. She clearly felt left out at school. So he opted for a slow stutter and adamant reply lacking any real rationale.

"Well, umm, they just would be. You never know. Besides it reveals my cunning. Like when I put sticky glue on Tim's keyboard and his hands get stuck, well he better be impressed with my skills."

She gave him a look of utter disbelief. "You are ridiculous. I don't even know what to say."

"It's okay to be in awe of my skills. Just bow at my feet, no need for words."

"Oh pu-lease. How do your co-workers deal with you?" Before he could stop it a slight wince crossed his face. He noticed as Tawnie zeroed in on it, for she quickly changed topics. "Soo, I think you won this round with…Tim?" Tony was thrilled to see the girl initiate conversation.

He hadn't decided whether she was in the first or second category, she was a bit of a mystery. If she was in an abusive home, well she clearly had escaped it and probably hadn't figured out how to reverse her relationship with her classmates. They had possibly reached out earlier and she had rejected them and now that she wanted to open up didn't know how to initiate it. If she was shy it hadn't taken too much effort to encourage her to converse, although she obviously had a soft heart and that could be a partial reason for his success. She had opened up when she got worried about him. He recalled that McGee failed to get her to talk, maybe he had just gotten lucky… ahh well. All he had were guesses, for now it would remain a mystery.

"Huh, right I did…" From that point he had gone on to ask her a couple of simple questions about her teacher, similar to those he had asked of her classmates.

The case had been pretty confusing, but they had managed to figure things out. They had found the teacher, she was innocent of her husband's murder, it turned out that the Marine had a gambling problem and had been accidentally killed by the men beating him as a warning. Mrs. Grames had gone into hiding, terrified that they would seek her out to pay his debts.

But, when the case was finally closed Tawnie resurfaced in his thoughts. He had a soft spot for kids, especially those that were left out. It brought back memories of the majority of his childhood. Tony took the time to look her up in the system and discovered to his dismay that yes, Matthew Grey had been locked away for spousal and child abuse about a year ago, and had actually been killed in prison during a brawl. Tawnie was probably relieved to know her father was dead, somehow that just brought a new level of freedom.

She was lucky; Tony hadn't felt free from his Dad until he was legally untied upon reaching age eighteen. Even now, knowing DiNozzo Sr. was alive…it had taken years for him to feel safe. All throughout boarding school if Tony went home for a holiday his father's authority reasserted itself and the "necessary discipline" didn't stop. The rule that a child should be seen and not heard was ingrained and a big reason for Tony's quiet manners even when he was at boarding school miles away from the DiNozzo house.

But enough of that…what he wanted to do was figure out something to help the young girl, Tawnie Grey. And that's when he had an idea. A great one if he said so himself. He quickly put the deed into action and called up Mrs. Grames. After spending some time talking to her about Tawnie and explaining his ideas the plan was set into motion.

_**ααααα ααααα**_

Several weeks later

Tony was busy at work, okay not really, but he was busy appearing to be hard at work. He looked up to see Ziva and Tim come out of the elevator with a young woman. She was around his age; with tan skin and black hair, clearly Middle Eastern descent. They were talking and she was not looking very impressed.

"So why did you want to know about Tony? As Ziva said he is most definitely a womanizer. He works little, usually goofs off, but he is an agent here. The Senior Field agent actually, but whatever he told you, if you are looking for stability then he is not the guy to go with." The young agent bobbed his head from side to side emphatically.

At this point Ziva piped up, "Yes, why is it that you want to speak to Tony? You are clearly a mother," she stated looking at Nala's well-worn shoes and the bag with snacks peeking out of it. "He is not the type to settle down with someone. And he is not a good influence, always getting into trouble, joking around, not taking things seriously. Although, he is charming and kind. We aren't trying to bash our co-worker, but again, not the commitment type."

"Thank you two for giving me so much information on, your co-worker did you say?" Well, it certainly sounded like bashing she thought to herself.

"Yep, we 'work' with him daily." Stated Ziva with an eye roll. The two agents exchanged looks and appeared to be laughing about some inside joke.

"But I think I will keep my business with him to myself. Have a nice day." She paused for a moment looking over at Tony, who had gone back to his work in all appearances. She took in his expensive clothing-clothing she recognized as she had once worn similar articles and same brand- and perfectly spiked hair. She noticed his chair tilted back and his legs on the desk, the little toys and figurines on the table; she spotted a mouse stapler and smirked a little bit. Well, her daughter wanted to say thank you, and she had promised her that she would get a hold of his contact information. On a positive note she had verified that he was in fact a real federal agent, for the Naval Criminal Investigative Service team. Never heard of them she smirked.

She watched as he put on a smarmy, charming smile and stood up from his desk putting out a hand for introduction. "Special Agent Tony DiNozzo at your service."

"Nala Grey," She watched as his smarm went down a notch.

"Nice to meet you. So how can NCIS help you?"

"Actually I'm looking for you in particular Mr. DiNozzo"

"Please, call me Tony."

"That's alright I'd prefer to keep this formal."

"Okay then, soo what can I do for you?"

"You met my daughter several weeks ago while looking into the disappearance of her teacher. Apparently you did some kind of favour for her. She wants to say thanks, and I told her I would get ahold of you and verify that you aren't some creep." She said this as if it was still a question. "Thus, I have come to deliver her cell number. Your colleagues there confirmed you work here, so I'm guessing you are pretty safe. If you lay a hand on my daughter I will kill you painfully and slowly." She said this with a grin and handed him a piece of paper and walked back to the elevator.

_**ααααα ααααα**_

A moment later…

_That wasn't weird at all_ he thought to himself. But then he smiled, _Tawnie must have caught on to the prank, and the thank you makes me think it was successful!_ He smiled throughout the day. He told Probie and Ziva that he had not gotten her number and chose not to explain what their conversation was about. Making them mad perked him up a little, despite their numerous questions as they tried to get the information out of him. And when he got out an hour after his official ending time he didn't care. He left the building and drove off in his car, pulling over at a diner that was far enough away from his work that he wouldn't be noticed, but close nevertheless. He pulled the car into a parking spot and phoned her. It was six pm, so she should be out of school.

"Hello?"

"Hi, it's Tony DiNozzo calling, you know, the special agent guy you hunted down." He said with a little laugh.

"Huh, my mom actually gave you my number."

"Yes she did, she didn't seem too impressed with me though. I felt like I was ten again."

"She has that affect, I think its partially her personality but also a mom thing."

"Definitely a little bit of both. Am I interrupting your dinner?" He asked hearing the sounds of cutlery in the background.

The only response was a non-committal groan.

"Oh man, is she gonna kill me?"

"There is a possibility."

"Please tell me you would attend my funeral. Maybe you could sing or something, hey you could tell jokes. My dad would be forced to listen to you, if he showed up. Haha, unlike an adult he couldn't pay you off to stop."

"I might take the money."

"What? Those are cruel words Tawnie, mean ones, especially to the guy who's near death. You could at least pretend you wouldn't." Her response was short, almost hesitant, she was cautiously wading into the whole idea of joking.

"I prefer truth, and speaking of honesty how bout I explain why I gave you my number and asked you to call." And stepping away from joking, she brought them right back to the point of the message. _He would have to work on loosening her up. The whole lighthearted atmosphere was good, a little awkward though. He had experience with kids, despite his co-workers beliefs. He taught kickboxing to a mess of youth in different ages. However, one on one calls and serious conversations were a little bit out of his normal territory. _

He responded out loud, "I have to admit I've been pretty curious. As proof of this, I should let you know that I didn't wait until I got home to call you. I left work and pulled over at the first diner I spotted so that I could park and phone you.

"Really?" He could hear the happiness in her voice and it gave him a soft feeling of fulfillment; he had done some good.

"Yup cross my heart, I am at Mario's. So you gonna tell me why I received your contact info?"

"Well I wanted to say thank you. Don't interrupt." She stated as he went to speak up. "I was totally surprised when Mrs. Grames called me up to help her prank the whole class on her first day back to school. And yes I know you totally proved your point that pranks have a role." She admitted laughingly with defeat in her voice.

"Hahaha, best idea ever right? Did all the kids fall for it, how'd you do it?"

"Well we bought the big sponges like you said and then she came over to my house and we coated them with icing and sparkles, they looked really nice. Mrs Grames told the class that I had suggested we have cake to celebrate her return. She then passed the butter knife to one of the kids. He tried and tried to cut through the sponge but totally flopped. After the fourth kid, Mrs. Grames and I looked at each other and burst into laughter. The kids all looked at me and they were like, 'What happened, what's going on?' So finally I explained to them, scooping the icing off the sponge. It was a total success."

"Man I wish I was there, I bet their expressions of frustration were priceless."

"They were, oh my gosh, Bobby was the first guy. When he tried and couldn't cut it he looked so indignant when another guy took over and told him he was weak. And then the next guy couldn't, Sarah looked over at him incredulously-she's this really bossy girl at our school. Oh my goodness so funny. You would have laughed really hard."

"I'm jealous, I really gotta try this prank at my office, federal agents always think they know it all, I'm sure there are a lot of Sara's here."

"And Tony, it worked. Thank you."

She didn't need to say a word, he knew she understood and wasn't upset or offended. And he…well he was thrilled. "You're welcome. It really was nothing, you did the work. Are you sure you wanted to give me your number? What if I decide to add you to my prank phone list hmm?"

"Well actually I umm…I wanted to take you out to dinner, to say thanks."

"Whoa now, there is no need for that, none at all, I didn't do anything, you can't take me out to dinner!" He protested vehemently and was quickly cut off by her.

"Oh yes there is, and you can't say no to a sweet innocent sixteen year old girl, you'd be crushing my dreams!" _That obnoxious little girl_ he thought to himself, _where did that backbone come from?_

"Alright, you got me. So when and where hmm?"

They had made plans for a week from then and he had really enjoyed the night, so had she. It turned into something more by complete accident. He had noticed a bad scar on her wrist and he had questioned it, knowing the possible door he was opening. She had quietly said that she fell into a glass door. He had just as quietly but firmly pulled up his short sleeve shirt near his shoulder and revealed several old scars, and said "me too". She softly asked him how to get over the fear. Tony had told her that it helped to feel strong, to be ready to defend oneself. And that's when DiNozzo got the brilliant idea to invite her to his self-defence kick boxing class. It was held on Monday nights at eight and brought in quite the variety of kids since it was free.

And from that point on he picked her up on Monday nights for his class and dropped her off again. Her younger sister had adopted him as a big brother upon their first meeting, and the chats he and Tawnie had, to and from kickboxing were good, for both of them.

He had never shared anything with anybody, not even Gibbs although he knew Gibbs guessed at his past; though he lacked concrete evidence. Ducky knew, he had seen the old breaks in his x-rays and had seen the scars, but they had an unspoken agreement not to speak about it. Once in a while Ducky would purse his lips, and from time to time he reminded Tony that he was always around to talk and Tony would just as calmly inform Ducky that he had sworn an oath. This was usually followed up with an apology on both parts, Ducky for prying and Tony for being so harsh.

He didn't share much personal information with Tawnie, she didn't need to know any details. What he did was offer her advice about moving on, becoming stronger, having confidence. She was becoming more confident every week. She gained some more snark and sometimes dominated their conversations. He hadn't expected to be invited into her home, but he had really been hoping to fix whatever issues her mother had with him. He had a lot of respect for Nala; she had spoken up about the abuse and gotten herself and her children out; that took guts.

To be honest, his need for stitching had been a last ditch effort and he hadn't been thinking about trying to get on her good side. Ducky would force him to take the day off of work and would want to know what brought on the injury and then Anthony would have to explain that his co-workers, who knew that their SFA was hurt enough to be hospitalized, thought it was funny to prank him like that. His more forgiving side said that it might have been some kind of welcoming gesture, but it was childish and stupid and something he would never do. Agent DiNozzo never pranked anyone in a way that could physically cause harm. Anyways, Tony would never go to a hospital by choice, he despised those places.

The stress of figuring out a solution to the physical ailment was totally worth it. He was looking forward to hanging out with Tawnie's family and knew that connecting with Nala had been a great step in that direction. He hadn't found a group of friends since college. His time at the police academy hadn't been the greatest, it had taken a while to find friends. Somehow they had found out about his upbringing and they decided that he was a stuck up snot with everything handed to him on a silver platter. Eventually he found some good people but they had all gone their separate ways to get jobs and the foundation of their friendship just wasn't strong enough to last long distance.

For some reason he just rubbed people the wrong way, he just wasn't the typical cop, not uptight or visibly efficient. His current coworkers just weren't looking for an outside of work relationship and his job effectively sucked up his time. He was leading a solitary lonely life and well it was depressing. Although, Jimmy, he was an unexpected and really great friend, probably the one good thing that came out of Gibb's leaving. And it was time for a subject change, any thoughts of Gibb's leaving and the time surrounding his departure were permanently ejected from his mind, and locked up in a box that he would never open unless it was required to fuel rage in an undercover op. And with that his jaunt into the past abruptly came to a stop.

_**ααααα ααααα**_

Nala went to answer the door after hearing the quiet bing of their doorbell. The pilate class she had signed up for a few months back started at the same time as kickboxing so it was easier for him to drive her.

"Hey Tony, come on in, she is running a bit late."

"No worries." He stepped in closing the door and placing his feet on the mat. "I must say I am looking forward to this Friday." He said with a wide grin that reached his eyes.

"Me too, I can't believe you never watched any Disney, did you guys not have a TV when you were growing up?" She doubted that was the case, again, clearly the guy came from money. As one previously wealthy person to another it was clear in his standing and in certain mannerisms. He made attempts to conceal it, but it was still apparent, for example his overly polite speech.

"We had cable, my parents just didn't buy any children movies." His answer was short and she was surprised at the lack of detail.

"Well, I will do my best to rectify that small issue, you've really been missing out…big time."

"I'm coming, I'm coming. Mom don't kill Tony before I get there, he's my ride."

"And instructor…and friend, or at least I thought I was."

"At least I was defending you." She said with a smirk.

"Poorly and without affection." He said pouting.

"You big baby, come on lets go already." She said staunchly leading the way out the door.

He turned to Nala, begging for support, but she had her hands over her mouth holding back a chuckle.

"Where's Keira, she loves me."

"She's at a Birthday party."

He shrugged his shoulders in defeat at this response and plodded out the door singing "All by Myself". At this Nala broke down in laughter and Tony looked back at her with hurt in his eyes.

Tawnie laughed as she stood by the car door. "Come on Tony, move your butt."

_**ααααα ααααα**_

The next day saw Tony once more wishing away his time. They had a new case, an apparent suicide of Lance Corporal James Corby.

**Side note… one reviewer said she thought that Ziva and Mcgee's trick was really mean, and I think she thought it sounded a little out of character. (But her respond button is disabled so I thought I would reply here). The thing is that the two agents are unaware of how badly injured he was and had no idea that he was tortured. Pulling the screws out someone's chair is an old easy prank, and I think that they rarely prank Tony, on the show. Thus, I don't think they are that creative when it comes to pranking. They were thinking utter humiliation, not a prank just for laughs like most of Tony's. I think it is pretty believable, Ziva is kinda scary and Tim is kinda clueless so they would do something dumb like that. Hopefully that is justifiable enough… :s?**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey Guys…. Please don't beat me :'(**

**That is if I have any fans left who wish to waste their energy doing so ;)**

**I would like to apologize first off for my very long wait…and here come my list of excuses :(. Soo, I finally gained a new beta, and he is completely amazing, honestly my work is tons better and I know that in the end that will make you the readers happy. So, either way, shout out to Mike91848 for all the time and effort he has spent guiding me but totally not taking over. **

**Soo, if you have read this story before please go back and re-read the first two chapters as I edited them greatly, though the concept is still entirely the same, so you do not need to read, but I added a few more tidbits of info. Thus, the re-editing took up quite a bit of my time, but now I should be back to updating once a week. In fact I am game to try and give you guys two chapters a week, since I was informed by a couple reviewers that once a week isn't enough :). **

**And my other excuses, is that RL kinda took over for about a week, and things have been kinda hectic at my house. I apologize , please forgive me and enjoy the story :D **

**Kalvinanne**

**Ohh, and NCIS and their original characters are in no way my possession :(**

Ch 3

_The next day saw Tony once more wishing away his time. They had a new case, an apparent suicide of Lance Corporal James Corby._

The case grew creepier as they dug into the details of the crime committed. It seemed fitting considering the time of year: Halloween. The victim had been killed by liquid nitrogen, a unique weapon. His passing was not quick, as it took some time for his organs to freeze, and his body to shut down due to suffocation. Tony felt increasingly uncomfortable, for although he had faced more malevolent crimes, he had never truly related to the victim in such a way.

Lance Corporal Corby was a trickster, constantly getting into trouble for playing pranks. The similarities between himself and their victim were obvious and his teammates had noticed to his chagrin. He had woken up in a cold sweat Wednesday night from a dream about drinking a coffee hand delivered by Gibbs, only to discover his insides were freezing and he couldn't breathe. He woke up choking and hacking partially due to the physical pain he thought was real and partially due to the emotional pain. Images of Ziva and McGee laughing as he choked to death, would not leave his memory. The next day he arrived at work tired and despite his best efforts Gibbs still head smacked him several times.

As they dove deeper into the case he became more self-conscious. When he heard about the Code Red, the fact that the Lance Corporal's boss actually poisoned him with paint thinner he flashed back to his dream. The crease between his eyebrows was going to become permanent, even though he tried to change his constant frown into a smile throughout the day. His entire body was becoming tense with the situation and he fought off the compulsion to flinch when Ziva asked for his order on her lunch run.

When Tim made a joke about taking the Senior Agent out because they were sick of his stupid pranks, with a hint of seriousness, Tony fought the urge to throw up. The pranks were never harmful. They were meant to be funny and light hearted, to loosen up Ziva who could be stone cold sometimes, and to toughen up McGee. Other times they were simply to draw the wrath of Gibbs away from the other two. Although, now that he thought about it, a month or so ago, before his undercover case there had been that really distasteful joke about dogs with McGee. It had scared the crap out of McTimid and blew their cover. Thinking back on it he could laugh again, but Tony also recognized that it had gone too far. The other agents made jokes that were more like digs, but who was he to say that he hadn't started to do the same.

All McGee and Ziva seemed to make jokes about were his lady skills or lack thereof and how stupid he was or what a sucky SFA he was. They called him a child and clearly thought he was incapable of being the boss if his short time as leader was any sign. Honestly, their jokes wouldn't be as much of an issue if he had been able to get over their crappy treatment of him while he was a leader. He knew it wasn't cool, you forgive and forget, but they never apologized and somehow every comment seemed to gain a spot on his list of put downs from the team. Sure, he had opened up the door, he didn't feel the need to brag about his intelligence like McGee did. It wasn't that he lacked confidence. Tony DiNozzo definitely had some issues with self-confidence, but he was content in his capabilities as an investigator and self-assured while out in the field.

And if his team paid any attention to him they would know that he really hadn't been out with the ladies since Jeanne. Neither of them thought he had any computer skills. They thought he was old school, but not in a good way and they certainly didn't associate his skills with Gibbs. Tony thought back to that stupid dare by McGee that he couldn't remove a virus. Even after defeating Probie there were still doubts in both of their minds that Tony had really accomplished the deed without aid.

To be honest, the more Tony dwelled on this distasteful topic the clearer it was becoming that his teammates had the same low opinion of him that Vance does. _So why are they even working with me_? He thought. _Why do I even like them? I hate Vance for his self-righteous attitude, why him and not them?_ _In all fairness I am pretty good at putting on a show and the guy hasn't worked with me for several years like my teammates, which if anything should make his judgement more acceptable. He hasn't had the opportunity to figure me out. I work with two extremely intelligent people, how are they unable to see that there is more than the superficial mask I put up? _

He thought back, _should I have taken Rota? No, it was definitely not time, I needed to keep an eye out for Gibbs, the guy treated me like crap but he wasn't right in the head and struggling with some serious personal demons._ Tony winced rubbing at his temple remembering the permanent head ache he had at the time. The memory of coming into work to find the pile of his personal possessions shoved into a box and thrust on his old desk was fresh. And that was the last reason for why he didn't want to be here. _Whoah now, pause right there, 'didn't want to be here'. Did you just say that, err think that?_

But, now that he had allowed himself to think this, reasons started to pop up all over the place. They had retrieved Ziva, and as much as she hurt him, she had survived a really tough life and Tony was glad to have removed Director David from the picture and placed her under the care of Jethro Gibbs. Cause let's face it, while Gibbs wasn't interested in the role of Tony's father figure, he seemed to have taken Ziva in as his daughter quite easily. They were good for each other.

And McGee, well he had grown up a lot while Agent David was gone. Tony's fear was that all the learning Tim had gained would be for naught if the senior agent remained in place. Ziva had a lot to teach, but her focus with Tony around was poor. She appeared to be teaching Tim more wrong than right as long as Tony was the focus of her attention. Thus, reason one and two for departure is Gibbs was fully capable of running the show and second that team Gibbs would run more smoothly without DiNozzo.

Reason three was more selfish: Tony needed to be accepted. Right now his team didn't really seem to like him. DiNozzo flashed back to the numerous hurtful experiences and rejections he had experienced. They added up to quite the pile and he remembered every one of them, way back to that dumb dinner party he wasn't invited to. Tony didn't want to see himself reacting in kind; maliciously hurting them. He had the smarts and the pranking skills at his disposal and it would be easy to fall into that trap.

Reason four; Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo was looked down on by his teammates because apparently he was insufficient and incapable. Tony began to grip the armrests tightly with a hidden rage. This reason made him angry, and yes Tony did in fact have an angry side. The alternate option would be to pull out all of his skill sets and make it clear to them how capable their SFA truly was. McGee had no idea that Tony had actually done some of his job as SFA so as not to overwhelm him when Gibbs left. But, if he was forced to physically give them evidence of said capabilities well that would be embarrassing for all of them. He just couldn't bring himself to do it, and have them laugh and doubt him, and then realize the truth of his proof. Working together would be awkward from that point onward.

Reason five, maybe it really was time for him to be a leader. The position of SFA was good, but he had been under Gibbs for a long time now. Tony wanted to lead, he wanted to step out and try his hand with teammates who didn't doubt their leader. The responsibility he carried during his brief time in power had been a good weight-bearable test-despite the hurts.

Two people on the team halted his departure: Abby and Jimmy. But, when it really came down to it, it was only Jimmy. The friendship with Abby had been precarious from the beginning. She hadn't liked his cocky attitude and he, well, he was unsure of how to handle the spitfire. Joking was his immediate solving device for all situations. But in her case that didn't work so well; the Goth girl had thought he was a spineless flirt. But, they had worked things out; and they had become close.

Still, in the end she was true to her original Boss; she was "the favorite" as she always said, but Gibbs was also her favorite. Gibbs did nothing wrong in her eyes and Tony knew she would never see otherwise, and beyond that would never recognize her own part in driving DiNozzo away. In conclusion, she was part of the force driving him away, despite her always good intentions. Jimmy, well he was a tough one, but the thing was that Jimmy had been oh so carefully hinting at Tony to move on.

Now the problem was that he didn't want to leave the DC area, he had Tawnie to think about now. The solution: Tony would have to carefully and quietly look around to see what opportunities were available in DC.

And that was when it hit him, he stopped himself from visibly recoiling. _Okay what the heck are you thinking, you can't leave this team! Seriously, what on earth._ But then Tony stopped and remembered the fact that before NCIS he had changed jobs pretty frequently and had done a good job of letting go. But, this was a different situation; the previous departures and this one were poles apart. _You have a family here! No…this is not a family._ Despite the messed up childhood, Anthony knew what a real family looked like. It had flaws, but the love within made up for that.

Tony forced himself to think back to every hurt word. The most recent stupid joke, all those messed up nightmares; was his subconscious trying to speak up? He remembered the betrayal of Tim's nasty joining in with Ziva on some of her harsher barbs. The two men had grown close while working as a team of two.

The very vivid remembrance of Ziva shoving a loaded gun in his chest after pushing him into the ground with a broken arm threw itself in his face. The pain was fresh and the smell of sweat, sand, and hatred hit his senses.

The numerous times that Gibbs didn't stand up for him or say a nice word, and the fact that maybe the man didn't really care about the Senior Agent came next. That last thought belonged at the top of the list, but he hated to voice such thoughts as real.

It was time to move on. Did he want to be here? Did he want to live in this environment? _No, so stop stalling DiNozzo!_

Tony looked at the agents working next to him, McGee was heavily engrossed in his work and Ziva also appeared to be doing some deep thinking as she glared at her computer. That constant glower would be missed. They also appeared oblivious to their teammate's own life changing thoughts to his relief.

For the next two days he discretely looked around, and while there was a position available on one team, it wasn't as the boss. Friday came around and he was happy to leave work. The agent was unaware of the strange looks he had received from his coworkers and did not realize that the past two days had been surprisingly quiet and calm.

_**ααααα ααααα**_

Tony looked in the closet and tried to figure out what to wear for the movie night. This was a totally laid back affair. Jeans and an old University sweater seemed like the right decision. He wanted to make a really good impression on Nala. That brought a laugh, it was like meeting the parents…_yuck, I am not hitting on Tawnie._

But if any other young kid did, well the little punk would be going through Tony. _You aren't her dad,_ he told himself, and then rebutted with, _it doesn't matter, if some slimy teenager hits on her he better have my acceptance._ He made himself some supper, ate it and then headed out a little early to pick up chips.

Doritos and plain Lays were his favorite choice of chips. He picked up All-dressed for Tawnie, and Cheezies for Kiera, apparently those were their favorites. And Nala liked to eat healthy and didn't have a favorite chip flavor. So that led to the purchase of a veggie tray. And then he returned to the snack aisle to pick up a bunch of M&M's for the chocolate factor. Salt and chocolate were a perfect mix.

The knock on the door was five minutes ahead of schedule, but he figured that wouldn't matter. He could hear the vacuum from outside. Either Kiera had messed something up, or they were cleaning for the guest. Next choice, ring the doorbell. This worked and he flared his eyebrows crazily at Tawnie's rolled eyes when she opened the door.

"Mum said the house needed to be presentable. I told her it was just you but she said it didn't matter, a guest was a guest."

"Haha." He responded, sticking out his tongue. Meanwhile Kiera came from around the corner and jumped-wait make that started to jump before skidding to a stop.

"Tony! Wait, are you still hurt?" She said with childish sincerity.

"I'm almost all better, but I'm thinking a full on jump into my arms might not be a good idea. However a real hug is a-okay." He said smiling as he moved to his knees for a hug. Man there was something about hugging a little kid and knowing that they loved you unconditionally that just fixed any bad day. Plus you could act like a kid around other kids, it was probably one of his favorite things about hanging out with youth.

"Anthony DiNozzo, did you get injured undercover? And why wasn't I informed of this?" Her glare seemed to intensify.

"Maybe…" He turned a playful glare at Kiera, "You blew my cover." He grumbled. She giggled. He remembered back to when he was in college, back then he was sure that there would be kids in the picture by now. And seeing adorable little ones like Kiera, or worrying about the teenage Tawnie: wishing he could take care of her and fix her problems, it made him want one of his own. That was something he had not thought about recently. Even while with Jeanne there had been no kids in their future talks.

He returned to the scene at hand to face Tawnie's firm glare, and chest jab. "What is with you and your mom and jabbing people when you are grumpy? What's a guy got to do to get some loving around here? And in answer to your question, I had to get some stitches for a work injury and don't worry I am fine, I'm nearly healed up." She gave him an eyebrow response.

"Seriously, I am a-okay." This time he made eye contact and kept a serious expression on his face.

"Alright, I believe you Tony."

"So someone gonna take these chips from me? I will personally pour the M&M's into a bowl, as they are my treat and mine alone."

"What?" Came the chorus from all three women.

"You heard me, now lead me to the kitchen and the bowls for all this junk. I'm gonna get fat, then my co-workers will have something else to make fun of me for."

"Tony, puh-lease, you are a beast at kickboxing I'm willing to bet you have abs, as if you need to worry about getting fat!" Stated Tawnie forcefully.

"Was that a compliment I just heard out of your mouth?" Said Tony with a wink and a flutter of his eye lashes.

"No need to bring out your girl magnet googoo face Tony."

"What?" Stated Tony emphatically.

"Ooo can I see your abs Tony." Said Kiera batting her lashes. Tony was internally flummoxed! When did little girls start thinking like this?

"Great, now you're teaching her those eyes." Whined Tawnie with a smile.

"You can't see my abs." Stated Tony, "Inappropriate, you aren't my girlfriend."

"Please…" She said edging closer to him.

"Whoah, whoah, I know what you are trying to do, and it's not happening." he said, racing out of the room with the little girl hot on his heels.

It was quite the sight to see. The 3', six year old, dark black hair in lose waves trailing partway down her back, was racing after the much taller Tony. The innocent purple Disney princess night gown Kiera wore simply added to the hilarity of the scene. Tawnie brought the chips in to the kitchen and laughed as she watched Tony and Kiera appear around the corner and then race back out. Eventually the fight concluded with one little kid being torturously tickled on the couch.

"I give up, I give up!"

"I didn't hear you?"

"Tony…I..GIVE UP!" She burst out after a gulp of air between giggles.

"Okay, stop torturing my child." Interrupted Nala.

At this Tony crushed Kiera in a giant hug, nearly mushing her tiny body.

"Tony." Came a muffled squeak.

"Oh, was I squishing you? I am so sorry." He said with false sincerity and a pathetically obvious fake sad face.

"Liar."

Tony responded by sticking out his tongue.

"Better be careful Tony, last time I did that Mommy grabbed my tongue."

"Wow, 'mommy', you are one crazy lady." Tony darted a look at Nala. She just lifted an eyebrow that said, 'I dare you'.

"Settle down kids. Aka, Tony and Kiera." Spoke up Nala with a semi-authoritative voice.

"I am an adult, I'll have you know." Stated Tony.

"Mmhm." She muttered at the same time as Tawnie. The two were setting out the bowls of chips.

"Tony, you brought a lot of chips, maybe you will get fat." Said Tawnie with a sly grin.

"I'm going to ignore that comment for the sake of peace, and because if I stick out my tongue I might lose it. Soo we're watching Puss in Boots, am I right?" He finished in an attempt to change the subject


	4. Chapter 4

**Woot, a new chapter…sorry guys if it is a bit shorter then the last few but it is still an update right? Right ? :s**

**So all your reviews totally made my day. Apologies to a certain reviewer who mentioned my endings are a little bit sudden. Its soo true, I will definitely work on that :). Thanks for the CC its greatly appreciated. TO all the kind words, thanks soo much, honestly I cant wait to post the next few chapters I really hope you guys love em, cause I certainly do and they are still in their rough stage ;). Anywho they contain some crazy dramatic stuff ;) whohoo, and some serious confrontations ;) Also thanks to everyone who favorited me or my stories, seriously it is such a huge compliment :D hope you enjoye**

**Kalvinanne**

**Also these are all my original characters and NCIS belongs to its perspective owners :(.**

CH 4

The night passed by quickly with many amusing comments from Tony as the movie continued on. It was decided that Kiera played the Momma, he was clearly Puss in Boots, Tawnie was the 'evil kitty', as he called her, and Nala was Humpty Dumpty. Kiera laughed saying that she was only a little girl and couldn't be a mommy. Tawnie was quite content with her role and Nala was very mad. She stated that she was not an egg, let alone an evil one who wanted to take over the world.

At nine o'clock they started the Princess and the Frog, but Tony fell asleep at about fifteen minutes in. He was exhausted it seemed. Kiera was snuggled up on one side and Tawnie on the other. The trio looked very content. He had fallen onto Tawnie's shoulder and he looked all the little kid that he appeared to be on the inside. The little stress lines that appeared from time to time when he thought no one was looking, were completely erased.

She looked back to the TV screen to watch the frog sing some silly song while floating down the swamp river thing. And she missed Kiera's little hands going to lift up Tony's shirt in a playful victory, only to be met with tons of stitching. Nala, looked up to spot her daughter gently touching the long stitches that coated him. She saw little tears sprout from her eyes.

"He has owies, like Mommy did, but lots and lots of them. "

"Yes, sweetie, he does, but don't worry, the doctor fixed him up."

Tawnie looked at her mom with dismay. Meanwhile Kiera continued to trace around the stitching mesmerized with the patterns. Before Nala could stop her Tony's body stiffened as he registered her hands and woke from his sleep. His body froze. He opened his eyes and upon recognizing the surroundings and taking in Nala's worried face he appeared to calm down. He quickly figured out what had happened after looking down at Kiera. He gently took her hand in his, pulling his shirt down and hiding his chest.

"Hey hon, it looks like you won. Now, now no need for tears, I'm all stitched up, that means I'm just fine and put back together again, kinda like humpty dumpty right."

The little one nodded and wiped up her tears, "Ya, Tony. But don't they hurt, that's a lot of owies, a lot." She said with emphasis and in a slightly stern voice.

"They hurt a little bit," He said, with frank honesty, knowing she did not want a lie, and that she might see right through it. There were a lot of stitches and it was clear to a little kid that they would hurt. "But the pain is almost all gone. And they should be almost perfectly healed by next week. "

She wrapped him up in big bear hug, one that was both gentle but still seemed all encompassing despite the small size of the arms that clutched his large frame. And somehow that love seemed to make up for any of the hurts. The rejection and lack of care he had received was nearly washed away. Geez, next time he got hurt he was coming right over here. The hug lasted several moments, but eventually she let go, then giving him a kiss on the cheek settled back down next to him to watch the movie. Tony did not make eye contact with the other women in the room. He turned his attention to the TV stiffly and tried not to burst into the biggest smile ever.

Some time passed and the movie was near ending, when he felt a pat on his arm. He turned to look to his other side. It was Tawnie, the poor girl probably didn't know how to handle the situation, their relationship hadn't really involved any affection of the comforting kind. They mostly bantered back and forth, so he was surprised to hear her softly say, "Tony you need to take better care of yourself, I worry about you." This was followed by his second cheek kiss.

"Honey, I will try my hardest just for you." He bent down and gave Kiera a kiss (she had fallen asleep). And then he gave Tawnie a kiss on the cheek as well. "Thank you."

The movie came to a close and Tawnie sat up and began quietly putting away the dishes. Nala who had stayed pretty quiet throughout the affair, though he noticed her wipe at her cheek when he darted a look her way, sat up to help her without comment. The agent disentangled himself from Kiera and picked her up in his arms. Two small hands subconsciously wrapped around his neck and she rested her head on his shoulder. He padded his way over to the girl's bedroom and laid her gently on the bed. Without realizing it he had pulled a father move, brushing soft hair from her face and planting a gentle kiss. Then he carefully pulled his body up into an upright position. The slight discomfort to the stitches was totally worth it.

Having a kid to give him wonderful hugs and adore him was a tantalizing notion, if only he wasn't worried about accidentally killing the kid. There was a need for some kind of serious training. On that thought, no wonder there were so many messed up kids, their poor parents just thrown into the job. He quietly exited the room wondering what there would be to face outside, if anything at all.

Tony walked into the kitchen to see if there was any way he could help tidy, but the girls had pretty much taken care of it. "Geez, you guys are efficient aren't ya."

"Well there wasn't much to do." Said Nala with a smile. Tony smirked and then yawned.

"You look pretty tired and if your falling asleep during the second movie we started at _nine_ wasn't a hint to you that you work too hard, well, I don't know what will clue you in."

"Okay Mom." Said Tony with another smirk. "I can see that I am not wanted here."

"You got that right." Stated Tawnie.

"Ouch, that one hurt." Responded Tony with crushed expression.

"Haha, I wouldn't joke if I didn't know that you know that I adore you. I mean you've even won over my mom."

"It is true that I won over your mom, however, you might want to tell me you adore me a few more times. Pretty please."

"I adore you, I adore you, I adore you. That good enough?"

"Well that was said kind of nonchalantly, there wasn't much feeling."

She leaned over and planted a kiss on his cheek and then grabbed his hand and started tugging him to the door without looking him in the face. "I adore you, now you need some sleep."

He allowed himself to be tugged out, beaming and waving at Nala as he walked out the door. She waved back at him. "Thanks for coming over."

"Thanks for putting up with me."

And then he was being pulled out the door. They stopped and he smiled. "Tonight was fun Tawnie, thanks for livening up my Friday night."

She smiled too, "thanks for coming over." And she walked back to the door as he stepped into his car. The two kisses tonight were something very new. Thinking back to his relations with children in general, usually any fondness was presented through jokes, not hugs. This was completely new to him. He smiled again; it really was a great night. He wondered what the next few days, and even weeks, would bring.

**Yeah, so again I apologize for the shortness, but Im doing my best to update more often, so it might take a bit for me to get used to... but I shall strive for improvement! I am totally a people pleaser ;).**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey guys, im sorry its been a little bit over a week…but my bf came up to visit YAY :D hahahah lol. I haven't seen him in three months. He is still here and I did desperately try to get this up before he came but it just didn't work :(. Soo I am taking some time away from him to read over it and post it! And its a nice big long one again :D**

**I really hope you like, this was one of my favorite chapters to write! Let me know what you think.**

**I loved all the reviews, I tried to respond to everyone who I could and hopefully I got you all :D, seriously guys I love knowing that you love my story hehehe. If anybody has anything in particular they want me to address please let me know. (I might not put it in, but probly will). I know that everybody has certain pet peeves about the show, certain things they want to yell about hahahaha. For example, maybe there is something that Gibbs did that you want to have me comment on. Please let me know. And as always CC is appreciated.**

**Side note, id like to give a shout out to my most amazing and wonderful beta, Mike91848, he honestly helps so much encouraging and just finding those grammar mistakes that can take away from your enjoying my story.**

**Kalvinanne**

**Again, the characters of NCIS are not my creation**

CH 5

A few days later…

Tony couldn't believe his luck, okay, well the situation itself wasn't that good, but for him it definitely good. Something many failed to realize was the fact that Tony had friends everywhere. He made connections with everyone he met, from coworkers to new probies, to the security guards and the receptionists. He acknowledged them, and remembered the information they told him, taking the time to wish their kids a happy birthday or ask about a sick mother. Out of this DiNozzo had gained not only a good name, but an understanding with each person he worked with. So when he sent out word to a few people that he was looking for a job, they were quite loyal and open to keeping an ear out, without blabbing anything. And that was the reason for his good luck.

He wanted to stay in NCIS; he was used to the way things worked here and not necessarily keen on the idea of joining Fornell and his crew. The fact that this would really anger Gibbs gave the idea some merit, definitely more than returning to the police force did. Anthony was a patient guy, when he needed to be. Thus, he had been biding his time, hoping for an opportunity to show its face before being forced into making a move out of the comfort zone NCIS provided.

This morning he was called up by Kara from cubicle eight. She had found just the opening he was looking for. Dolores Gregor, who happened to be the agent in charge of the group who was short a person had up and died of a heart attack. It was quite an odd case, but there was someone on hand and it was clearly not murder. The lead agent had died in the most mundane of ways.

But, already being down one they were in desperate need of a new boss and fast. Kara had updated him with the news immediately and now he had time to move in before Vance started looking at other people. He was going to play this very well, peeling away part of the mask that was Anthony DiNozzo, despite the fact that he abhorred the idea of "proving" himself to Vance.

A conversation he had with Gibbs months back came to mind. Well, it was less a conversation and more an exchange of glances. Gibbs had essentially questioned him about his relationship with the Director. Asking the agent why he couldn't just see eye to eye with the guy. It was well known that Tony was capable of getting along with most people, so why did he deliberately tick off the director, a man who held such authority over his career.

Tony had shrugged and winked, brushing it off as a joke. Gibbs was meant to leave the conversation thinking that Tony just liked to screw around sometimes and this case was such. DiNozzo knew that Gibbs thought there might be a bit more than that reason, possibly a bit of bitterness about the agent afloat situation. However, that wasn't it at all. It had to do with a minor character defect of Tony's, one that showed up from time to time and usually landed him in a load of crap.

The young agent hated people that held great influence over him and exerted that power in a dominating fashion. This pushed his buttons in a way nothing else did and the little boy who had been pushed around for much of his life was not going to stand for it. Infuriating Director Vance reminded Tony that _he_ had control and held _his_ own life in _his_ hands.

But, a chance opportunity like this would not come around again and gaining this job was essential. After getting the early morning phone call he quickly made his way into work and dropped extra bags on his desk. Quietly, he called Vance's receptionist and inquired about said Director's whereabouts, learning that the man was in his office and would have a fifteen minute quiet spell in about twenty minutes. Cynthia told him she would give him a call if the meeting ran late or shorter.

In preparation Tony donned a new role. He would be polite, but not in a rude or snotty way. The evidence for his case would be displayed carefully, as this was not the time to show Vance up. Harold Errod, a lawyer he played back on the force while undercover would be perfect for the part. Clean, polite, tons of smarm and based off a friend of his family. Soon he began the trek up to Vance's office.

The earliness of his arrival was evident by the sheer silence in the bullpen. Tony could hear the rustle or tapping of a few teams who had pulled all-nighters. One sleeping agent in particular was making this snorting noise every couple of seconds. Okay, he had to take credit for that one. After walking by Mike Briant's desk and spotting the man asleep in his chair, head nearly leaning all the way back, he couldn't resist the opportunity. Quietly, he had grabbed a Q-tip out of his desk and stuck it up the guy's nose.

He knocked respectfully and upon hearing, a "Come on in." He stepped through the office.

"Agent, DiNozzo?" The confusion was evident by the way he hesitated.

"Hello Director Vance, could I have a few minutes of your time?" Tony stepped into the room, but did not further occupy the space until invited.

Vance looked down at his watch rolling his eyes, but curiosity got the best of him. "I suppose so, you are here after all."

"Alright, thank you for giving me some of your time. I recognize that your spare moments are brief, but I think that once you've heard me out I will be saving you time." Tony maintained his serious expression.

"Is that so?" Tony could hear the disbelief that coloured his voice as easily as he smelled the Bacon and Egg McMuffin the Director munched down for breakfast. It was almost enough to make him turn heel and leave, letting the Director believe this was all some sick joke. He held onto his resolve as tightly as he could.

"Yes. I have a proposition for you. I heard through the grape vine that Dolores Gregor passed away from a heart attack. A good leader, and I was sad to hear of her passing, but in some ways it was nice to know of a less violent death for a top agent." Director Vance's mind appeared to race at the suggestion, Tony knew that the grape vine had not started- it would very soon-but this was a little soon.

"You see, I know that you need to fill her position quickly, they were already down a member and now you need to find two people to round out their team. That takes time, especially when looking for the head agent. You can't just hire anybody. That is where I come in. You know me very well, you have seen me work and I spent a brief period of time as head agent during which our solve rate remained the same. Now, I know that you do not think that I can do this job; you would never have picked me out as a head agent. I raise your ire way too much and you don`t think that I'm capable. But, you do know that the previous director thought I was and that should say something. I also think that my resume will be very persuasive." He spoke in a measured, winning tone and he allowed his eyes to take on a pleading expression despite the desire to upchuck.

Tony quickly handed him the folder containing his information. Vance was not looking impressed and instead seemed to be trying to figure out what other angle there could be for Tony's speech. His expression indicated that he didn't fully believe that Tony was really looking for a job.

"Is this a prank?" He was chewing on one of those damn tooth picks, Tony watched for the tell-tale signs of anger or exasperation. If he was mad he would bite that little thing into pieces, otherwise he would simply suck away lacking any vengeance. It was the latter, which, considering the way most of their conversations went, was a good sign.

"I swear it isn't. Please, look inside the folder." No more long speeches, he knew with Vance that nothing he said would make a difference.

Tony watched as the director perused the first pages seeing nothing new, but then he got further in and his eyes grew large and speculative. Behind those pages were evidential proofs of the various certificates he had acquired.

"Anthony Paddington, that would be your mother's last name, am I right?" Tony nodded. "I had no idea that you held so many degrees…bachelor in . of course, but a second bachelor with a major in criminology accomplished in less than four years, a Masters degree in psychology. You took a specialized course I see here, one I have never even heard of before…some kind of one year intensive training? Similar to a marine course I see and it covered torture prep, various martial arts and other survival classes. And you have continued to train in those martial arts, in particular Kyokushinkaikan, it notes that this is full contact karate. They allow kicks to the head and little protective material, is that right?" Again Tony confirmed with a nod. He was still upset that he had to share this information with Vance and he didn't want to say something spiteful or rude and lose his chance.

"It says here that you have received training as an intelligence analyst along with several other computer skills by taking night courses over the span of your time at NCIS. Agent DiNozzo, if I may be so bold as to ask, why on earth did you keep this a secret, why attain these things under a different name? Don't you want the credit?" Tony noted that despite the rapid fire questions Vance maintained his calm demeanor. He did not lose his cool, as Abby would say.

"Sir, I like to preserve my appearance as a lighthearted jokester. I don't want people to be afraid of me like Gibbs or in awe of my skills. Those who are close to me like my teammates should be able to see through that mask given time." Tony watched as Vance tightened his grip on the tooth pick during the last sentence and wondered what had Vance noticed. Clearly Vance was watching his reactions as well, for he just as quickly loosened his grip on the pick. Tony continued, "And I do not overtly hide my accomplishments; I simply chose not to place them in my file. I am assuming that you will need to add them now?" This question was eclipsed with a sigh of regret.

"Unfortunately yes, I will need to do so DiNozzo, however, I doubt people will search you up any time soon, most people that work here have already looked into your background when you first started working, and if they do, I do not see it as a bad thing. Maybe it would be good for people to recognize your skills. Clearly I played the idiot here."

At this DiNozzo stared at the Director with a hint of shock in his eyes, a bewildered expression that he immediately eliminated. In this moment he felt a bit of respect for the director. It took guts to say you were wrong, especially to someone you had previously treated with disdain.

"Maybe with time, Director, you would have come to see below the surface, we won't know. However, to get back to the point of this meeting, would you be open to giving me this position?"

"Special Agent DiNozzo you are most definitely qualified, but, if I can ask another personal question? Why now, why have you suddenly decided you want to leave Gibbs' team, have you informed him of your plans?" Vance asked this with a hint of confusion.

"No, I have not talked to Gibbs. And as for why now, I simply feel that it is time. I have been a SFA for several years now, that is a major reason, and I feel that in many ways the team would be better able to grow if I move on. Agent McGee is able to hold the position of SFA and he needs to learn some stuff that cannot be taught. The team needs change." Vance could probably hear that there was more ringing in the silence. He did not address the silent questions, for it was none of the Director's business.

"Well, give me twenty-four hours, I am sorry but I need to phone your references and make certain everything is legitimate. Don't get me wrong, I believe you, but it is protocol." Vance said this all with great sincerity and reached a hand towards the taller agent.

The two shook hands and Tony left Vance to ponder some unique circumstances.

αααααα

Leon was baffled by the entire affair. To recognize that Tony, as in _the_ very special agent Anthony DiNozzo, was so educated and skilled had really shaken him up. It was very hard to have some of your beliefs flipped upside down and dumped out like the trash. Despite appearances he was having a hard time believing this. It would be a while before he could internally digest this new Anthony DiNozzo/Paddington. He could roll with the punches though, and that is exactly what he would do. The Italian agent deserved respect and would benefit this agency greatly. Director Vance was an intelligent man though, and realized that DiNozzo would never have revealed this information to him if he didn't badly desire change. _The question was why? Why did he want to leave?_

All of the reasons DiNozzo gave were legitimate, but still, not to have broached this with Gibbs, the entire situation felt quite awkward. An urge to go question the older man and ask him what the hell he did to lose his Saint Bernard struck him.

Yet, the more Leon dwelled on this the more he realized that the group-though it seemed stronger and re-melded together once Ziva returned-might not be. He didn't claim to know the inner workings with good reason. Team Gibbs was a family of sorts and family keeps personal things to themselves. He could understand that. Issues between him and Jackie remained between themselves. Yet, all the evidence leads him to draw the conclusion that his agent does not consider his team more than colleagues. For why else would he choose to hide his plans to move up the ladder.

_This promotion should be seen as a joyous occasion especially since Tony was choosing to remain at NCIS. That was another weird thing; if the team was in some kind of tiff then Vance would assume that Tony would want relocation. So, what was tying DiNozzo down?_ Again, Leon just didn't have a clue, and he wasn't sure if he would ever know. A friendship with DiNozzo was not in the books, although the new position would require the two to have a closer relationship than before.

But, returning to the issue of Gibbs. At the moment he almost wanted to go and let the guy know that he would probably lose his SFA, but he also felt that to do so would be a betrayal of DiNozzo's trust. If-when- the hiring went through, the two would discuss how Tony wanted to break the news.

He quickly reached forward to grab the third tooth pick in as many minutes and steeled his eyes as the door opened. Ah right, Cynthia had informed him that his next guest arrived.

αααααα

By the end of the day Leon had taken the time to contact his references. The suave agent was right to say that this would save him time, he had been planning to take the time to look through possible agents and instead took that time to look into Anthony's degrees, which were all verified, as well as various instructors for the martial art skills.

It was harder to get a hold of his instructor for that one year intensive, a Benjamin Hurg. Eventually, he did and although Hurg had to go back into his records to remember Tony "Paddington" once he did he had only good words to say.

He informed Vance that "…the kid was good, real good. He worked hard, Tony came here because he wanted to learn and he pushed himself to the limit. The boy was fighting back some demons; it was obvious to the staff, for with every kick or blow that he learned he seemed to be beating up some invisible foe.

You know, we get all sorts of types at this school. There are those who are scared crapless, they came because they wanted to toughen up, but chicken shit is chicken shit, if you know what I mean. But, the kid, well let's just say that after going through the sessions on torture, we learned that, well…he's made of some stern stuff. And I mean that before we taught him what we did."

Ya know I believe that you're the first person to ask me about that boy. I was surprised especially considering his determination. I was under the impression that he was going into law enforcement. We often get a lot of calls for reference letters."

Vance had said that yes, Tony had gone into law enforcement, and the lack of reference calls would have to be answered by his previous employers. After finishing the necessary calls, he had gone ahead and began to file the paperwork, readying it for when he called up Agent DiNozzo. At the end of the day he did exactly that. He watched as Tony got up from his chair smiling at his coworkers and walked up to the Director's office. The brunette apparently did not answer their questions as they continued to look up at him inquiringly. Gibbs grew angry; his fists clenched and he drew his eyes together in that stare that worked on so many. Jethro liked to be in the loop when it came to his team. Ahh well, he would be soon enough.

"You certainly are efficient Director." Were Tony's first words upon entering. "I hope I am not presuming when I guess that you have taken a look at my references?"

"You are correct, Agent Dinozzio. Please, take a seat?" The last question was said for decency's sake though both knew he wouldn't take the seat. "I have reviewed your references and they are excellent. I would again like to make apologies for my inability to see past your defences. I suppose it says much for your ability to have convinced so many to see only your jokers façade."

Tony went to interrupt, maybe to halt Vance's slight self-berating, maybe to jokingly change the subject. But, the Director put his hand up halting Tony's words.

"No need for you to joke this off. I can recognize my mistakes when they saunter on up and unassumingly spit in my face. If we are to work together, which we will do much more often, then we need a foundation of understanding. I will piss you off in the future and I am sure the opposite is true as well. I would like you to understand that my frustration came because I assumed that you were not passionate about this job, or cared to improve yourself. I see that nothing is further from the truth. I would like to formally ask you if you would agree to become the new leader of this team. Effective as soon as you can be ready." Leon stared into the green eyes across from him in an attempt to make certain that the young man knew he spoke honestly.

"Director Vance, thank you for your kind words." Said DiNozzo with a dip of his head, breaking eye contact.

Vance continued, "When did you wish to start? I know that you are not involved in any cases, so you could leave your team immediately. Did you want time to learn about your new team? I am sure there is prep work to be done, you will also need to hire a third person for the team."

"The weekend is coming up, if possible I would wish to take off tomorrow, and have a three day weekend. That would give me the necessary time to pore over files and select a third member. I know much about both Shyama Kandar and Samantha Brend; I make it my business to know the people that work around me. I would like to look more deeply into their records and make a plan of attack if you know what I mean, as well as determine a few things...I can begin leading on Monday. You can however feel free to place us back on the roster whenever you wish to. Both women are hard workers, and Gibbs and I worked as a team of two successfully. I'm not worried."

"Alright, well I will do as you wish, you may have tomorrow off, and I will inform agents Kandar and Brend that they have a new boss and to be prepared for work by Monday. I will put you back on the roster by Wednesday, giving them some time to adjust to you and your leadership style. Oh, and I almost forgot, your injuries, the ones you sustained while undercover. They were serious in nature. However, Gibbs did take you off of cold cases a few days back and you are to have your stitches removed this week. Are things all set on that front?"

"I am ready to go Sir, I have a nurse taking them out tomorrow actually. And I would not place my own stir crazy needs above the safety of the team, so don't be afraid that I am downplaying my injuries."

"Okay, well that leaves the signing of these papers, which will take a while as I'm sure you recall from the last time. Also, how did you wish to inform your team, did you want me to tell them tomorrow, or are you prepared to let them know?" Vance gazed carefully at his agent and just caught the sigh of utter despondency that slipped out before he responded.

"I think I will give you the task of breaking the news and I will steer clear of my house this weekend." He said with a hint of a laugh. If the director did not know that things had to be bad for DiNozzo to avoid telling his own team of his departure, he would have bought the laugh. The green eyes seemed to joke, but Vance knew that things were not good, and he was glad that Tony was leaving. A team needed to be a team to function well, and that seemed to be lacking at least as far as Tony was concerned.

Vance nodded in response. "Have a good night DiNozzo, I will see you on Monday, call me if you can select a third member…don't necessarily feel rushed, but the sooner the better."

"Goodnight Director." Tony made his way out of the office, closing the door quietly and making his way downstairs.

αααααα

Tony closed the door, pausing as he fingered the cool metal handle. He rubbed his hand over it as he thought to himself. Appearances can be deceiving. This cold metal handle is tacky looking, ugly, lacking any superficial additions. But, it gets the job done in a way that some ornate wooden handle never would. He thought about the doors on his dad's office. As a kid he would always pause to feel the handles that were decorated as richly as the doors they opened. It was an excuse to delay the inevitable meeting with his father. That was how he felt entering the office this morning, but he had a feeling that would change as they interacted in the future.

Internally, there was a nearly euphoric feeling bubbling up in his gut. This was going so much better then he thought. He had underestimated the director's ability to see past their previous relationship of quips and disrespect on both sides.

What Anthony failed to realize was that the Director would never let his pride get in the way of gaining such a phenomenal agent. Tony was a boy who had grown up into a young man lacking any real encouragement throughout his life. In many ways Tony underestimated himself in a way that was more than humble.

Tony knew that his decision to remain here was a good one. If he believed in higher powers he would say this sudden respect was a gift to him for putting aside reservations and staying instead of running for the sake of those girls.

Enough thinking. Now he needed to head downstairs and face his teammates.

αααααα

**Sooo, hehehe I hope you liked it! Side note, ya Im totally one of those people that thinks Tony is way more skilled then he looks (in case you didnt catch that). But I really do want the story to be plausible, and I will talk more about his skills, with another character reflecting on it. Thing is Tony and Gibbs were a two man team and I think he had to have had more skills with the computer if that was the case. I also feel that as a SFA he's got to have a few more skills then just instincts. Anywho hope to have another chapter up in a few days fingers crossed hahah. **


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey Guys, all my lovely wonderful reviewers, the silent readers, anyone giving my story a chance. I hope you are enjoying what you've read so far. I try to respond best I can.**

**Sooo, I know this is a little belated in coming, but like I said RL kinda showed up :0 3 ;) hahahahah**

**I really loved writing this chapter too. I hope you like it as much as I did. Again, CC is definitely accepted. And all your loving or enthusiastic reviews are great encouragement to me. Also, like I said in the last chapter, please let me know any pet peeves you have because I would love to address them. Or just let me know favorite line ;) that is purely for my own benefit lol.**

**Another shoutout to my beta reader Mike. Honestly, he is the best, I sent this off to him and he got it read and critiqued really fast for you lucky readers.**

**Soo, sad note, about a week from today I am going on vacation (kay it's not really that sad, it's pretty exciting, cause I worked full time all summer so far). But I won't know until I get there whether or not there will be internet access. I'm going to do my best to get three chapters to you guys before I go, including this one.**

**However, from the sixth to sixteenth of August I will be away and there may be no new chapters. :( :( :(**

**But I will be writing a whole bunch for the story, soo maybe I will have faster updates when I get back. That's good news…right? :D**

**NCIS is not mine, if it was Tony would be respected and I'd be dating him ;) The large age gap means nothing ;)**

CH 6

Tony made his way back into Team Gibbs' work area then into the little sectioned off cubicle that was his "office space". _Ha, what office space? _He thought to himself. His thoughts were quickly interrupted.

"What was that about, Tony? I hope you aren't doing any more undercover work without talking to us." Stated McGee staunchly. _He could angrily yell at McGoo under his breath, but he decided that today was a new day with great opportunities and it deserved a positive response. This could be exactly what Tony needed to face, more proof that he had made the right decision__. _

"Nope, no undercover work for me." DiNozzo said, mind focused on processing what that entire conversation with Vance meant for his life. He didn't spare McGee much thought.

"Are you for sure?" asked Ziva as she made her way over to stand next to Tony, arms folded.

There was a moment of silence, in which McGee spoke up, "'for sure' is slang Ziva, you mean 'are you certain?' I think you're picking up Tony's awful patterns of speech."

They both looked at Tony who seemed preoccupied with his computer. Ziva glanced closely trying to spot a reason for her coworkers' slow reaction. He looked the same, light brown hair spiked into shape, neatly pressed suit… wait a few seconds. The suit did look a little wrinkled and, she looked down to his feet. His socks did not match. They were close in appearance and the same colour, but different material. How very odd. She stared at his face, there did not appear to be any more or less wrinkles in his face. She couldn't get a good look at his eyes, as they were looking down at the computer screen.

"Hmm, you know Tony, ignoring us will not make the problem go away. You will need to answer eventually. I for one think you have a bit of a sad puppy look on your face, you know that one you get whenever a girl rejects you." Said Ziva squinting at him in an attempt to focus more.

"How do you know what that looks like?" responded Tony, attention finally on his teammates.

"Well Tony, you had that look for months after the whole Benoit fiasco." Stated McGee. "It was nice for once, I almost prefer it to that cocky arrogant smirk you usually have."

"You, prefer me to be unhappy?" Asked Tony with a straight face and a hint of hurt in his eyes. It was clear that he was not joking.

"No, no, that's not what I meant." Stuttered out McGee. Hands held placatingly in front of him.

"Well it's what you said, I'd think for an MIT graduate you'd be able to speak?" Said Tony with a smile on his face, in a gentle tease. He leaned back giving McGee the space he was pushing for. Unfortunately, McGee did not catch the physical or verbal cues.

"At least I have a degree that counts and aids me in my work." He spit out, mouth forming a snarl that was very un-McGee.

Tony remained completely calm. There was no need to reign himself in or defend his position as SFA. He just didn't care anymore. He breathed in and out deeply, tasting the tension in the air.

Ziva decided it was time for a topic change. She made her way back to her desk with an air of cockiness.

"Soo, Tony any new ladies?"

"Nope, none at the moment." Said Tony in a moment of frankness.

"I think, maybe you are losing your touch with the women, hmm?"

"It is quite possible Ziva, quite possible. Well guys, it is past time to go. I'll see ya around." Said Tony with a note of finality. "Gibbs" he said in recognition.

"Night Tony" said both McGee and Ziva slowly as if trying to comprehend a new mystery. He headed for the elevator and went downstairs to talk to Jimmy. Palmer was the only one that Tony planned to inform in advance. He would tell Abby, but she would immediately tell Gibbs, and Tony wanted one more night in his apartment without being bombarded by his old team.

He found Jimmy cleaning up alone, Ducky probably headed out early tonight. "Jim, it's happened."

Jimmy immediately knew what Tony was talking about. "He's agreed to it, yes! I am soo happy, I was worried that I'd lose you any day now to another agency. That would have been utter crap, thank goodness it didn't come to that." Tony grinned at Jimmy's wild gesticulating and loud words. Jimmy smirked and then gave him a look as if to say, "go on".

"Yes, it was kind of strange actually, Vance umm, well he apologized for judging me. I feel like things might be turning up. It was a good conversation, really good. Though he is putting my extra information up under my name." Tony spoke slowly, with carefully measured words and a hint of confusion. His normally confident mask was gone.

"But that was to be expected, right? Have you told Gibbs?" He looked at Tony, seeing a shrug and no eye contact, "That would be a no then. When will he find out, when will the rest of them find out?"

"Tomorrow."

"Well, you could stay at my house for the weekend?" Said Jimmy answering the unspoken predicament. "That way they can't hunt you down. I doubt they'd guess at your whereabouts. I don't think that Ducky is even aware of our tight friendship. He would never suppose that you came over to my house. Remember how clueless the team was about my relationship with Agent Lee?"

Tony placed a quick hand on Jim's shoulder in reassurance to the slight tensing he showed after mentioning his ex-girlfriend. "Jimmy, I can't take up your house for three nights. You do realize you have a new and great girlfriend now, who spends a lot of time at your house."

"Tony, you're definitely staying at my house." Stated Jimmy. He straightened his glasses in a look that was meant to brook no nonsense.

"Jimmy, you've got to stop with this whole backbone thing, I can't take it anymore." He said laughing. Secretly, he was pleased, even if he felt he was intruding. Palmer's confidence was increasing weekly. Now he was just waiting for the day Jimmy finally stood up to Gibbs. That was his hope, for that would be the ultimate test for the autopsy gremlin.

"Ha, don't lie to me," Jimmy said, beaming, "and I meant it, you are coming to my house. I expect you there bright and early Friday morning before I head to work." This speech was accompanied by his finger jabbing into Tony's chest.

"Ouch," Tony rubbed his chest, "Okay, okay. At least I have plans for Friday night, so you will have the house to yourself then."

"That's right, I forgot about that. I think it is so funny that you have been invited to their Friday movie night. Though, as you've said the woman is an animation enthusiast. Nala's like a kids edition of you. She's rated G and you're rated PG." He said laughing, and Tony just looked at him with a smirk. Jimmy's corny jokes never failed to amuse him. "And I know you would never pass up the opportunity to have someone come over and see one of your movies. She may be the same. I'm not surprised you were extended a permanent invite. What'd you say you guys are watching this time?"

"Shrek 1 and 2. Apparently that is where Puss in Boots originated."

Jimmy burst into laughter at Tony's bewildered expression. And Tony good naturedly laughed with him. "Well, I better be heading out I've got some files to look into."

"Okay Tony, but make sure you bring a ton of films over for the weekend."

Tony smirked, "I will, and I will choose ones I am sure you will like, rather than broadening your taste like last time." Jimmy returned an identical smirk.

"Hey now, I didn't say I didn't enjoy the movie last time."

"No, but your facial expression of sadness and the fact that you looked away numerous times throughout the movie. Follow up with the fact that you said, 'well that was different' at the end…" Tony responded trailing off. He smiled and headed for the door. "See ya Palmer."

"Bye Tony."

**αααααα αααααα**

Several hours later Tony had been through numerous files, there was quite the stack of possibilities, but none seemed to be the right fit. He was trying to select a third member for their team. And unfortunately, gained nothing but a few paper cuts. Wincing, he sucked at one of his fingers.

_Shyama Kandar was the nerdy quiet type, a smarty pants. Samantha Brend was a marine, hard as nails, and she would offer a different take on the scene. Both were pretty quiet, Shyama because she was shy, and Brend because she didn't like to waste time talking. The third member would need to add a bit of life to these two. _

_So far, the candidates seemed like smart and capable agents for the most part. _ But DiNozzo was looking for personality, someone to round out their team perfectly. _There were a few necessary requirements. The new member needed to be a little more outgoing and definitely a guy, Tony couldn't be a leader over three girls, two was tough enough. Their probie didn't need marine skills, computer skills or beat cop skills. Instead they had to be someone different, with a unique approach._

Tony leaned back on the couch and placed his hand in his head. _No one seemed to fit_. He had been reading over files for way too long, the movie in the background had ended and his pizza was half eaten and cold in its box. It still smelled really delicious. He fingered another slice, biting into bread, cold cheese and meaty goodness. He still had about twenty files to go when he found the one.

_Brad Lee: he seemed typical at first, he had the necessary skills, and of course like all agents he was good at some things-for example, his shooting skills were excellent-and not so good at others-his people skills sometimes lacked. If you read between the lines it sounded like he stuck it to the man sometimes, and wasn't known for dealing with bureaucratic crap very well. That was okay, Tony could schmooz with the best of them. The guy was half Asian, it was always good to get a mix of culture on the team. _

_But that wasn't what made him stand out. Nope, it was the fact that the guy had done time in jail, for a crime he didn't commit. Brad had looked good for the crime and he had run with gangs, but apparently jail had smartened him up and once he got himself out had walked away from that lifestyle. He had studied up; effectively lawyered up using himself and proven his innocence. The guy had then in a weird turn decided to become a cop, one would think he'd despise the people who screwed up and messed with his life for five years, not join them. The situation intrigued him, that and the fact that Brad had been waiting to get hired by a team but no one wanted to touch him, probably afraid the guy would burn them._ But somehow, Tony didn't get that vibe, and he also felt that it was the right thing to do to hire him, to give him a chance.

Tony more than anyone knew that appearances could be deceiving. _Plus, the kid would give great ideas_, DiNozzo was sure of that, simply because of his unique background. It was kind of ironic that his last name was Lee, but Tony could get over that, he would just rarely call Lee by his last name. Besides, he planned to give them all nicknames anyways. Next, he would see if it was possible to interview him. Agent DiNozzo had a few other good guys, but none that he _really_ liked so he hoped that the interview went well, really well. He glanced at the time, it was only twelve pm, next off he'd read over the case files of his new teammates.

He hadn't been lying when he said that he knew the two girls fairly well. He had not really spoken to either of them very often, maybe a casual hello and smile. _Shyama had been the probie, but she had several years' experience on her now. She was extremely shy and not ready to speak up, but she was a hard worker and efficient. _

_The young female agent was not necessarily natural law enforcement, she was someone who had decided this was what she wanted to do in her life and she worked her butt off to make it happen, though he doubted people saw that. _ Tony had noticed her working late several nights, or coming in very early to do extra work to keep up with her team. _He liked her. Shyama had the techie smarts, a fairly high IQ, and she knew how to shoot a gun well, she had worked hard. What she lacked was toughness, the nitty gritty, and he knew, considering her personality, that she would be open to any kind of training. _

_She did average or better in all the various required skills as listed in her file. _He read over her schooling: _she had a bachelor and masters, high grades of course. Raised in a middle class family, adopted as a baby and aware of this fact. She was an only child, and it seemed that her relationship with her parents was still good. They kept in regular contact and she spent her holidays with them. Her status was currently single, but he personally knew she dated, just hadn't found the right nerd with a certain amount of toughness. Well that's the way he saw it. _

_Next was Samantha Alexa Brend. She was definitely going to be called by her middle name, not the Sam that she preferred. He knew she was a marine, it was evident in every part of her, from her actions, voice and right to the short blonde hair cut. Unlike Shyama she has a strong build, not heavy, but big boned and she is toughness embodied. She is good with people, and seems able to schmooze and deal with the weepy, he had seen her in action a few times from across the cubicle. They had also shared words a few times, but he didn't really know what her opinion of him was. She has three older brothers, all in various physical pursuits, one a high performance athlete, the other two in military careers. She seemed to take his joking in stride, but he didn't know if secretly she thought he was an idiot and was putting on the smile and smirk. He didn't converse with her enough to know for certain._

_Her military training had her more than competent with weapons and defence. She did however lack in the technology side, and that was something he wanted to see her improve on. It was an important skill and he knew why Vance valued it, they lived in that kind of era. She was single and he never saw her date, he wanted to fix that. Not that a partner made everything perfect, but in law enforcement it was good to have somebody to go home to every night. _

_He wanted to loosen up both girls. Shyama was so shy and he wanted her to become easier going. Brend was also a little too uptight, but in a different way from Shyama. He felt that he would be a good leader for the team and change up the dynamics in a good way. _

That taken care of he decided to write down a few goals in general, things that he wanted to do differently from Gibbs, or the same, as a leader.

The team had to respect him.

_DiNozzo needed to make it known to each of them that although he liked to goof off, he knew what he was doing and he as their leader should be obeyed. He didn't want a repeat of Ziva and Tim. Tony had wondered for a bit after deciding that he wanted to be a leader, whether or not he should completely remove the goofy frat boy persona. But, two things stopped him. One, this was going to be his life, how on earth could he be happy if he was always strict and never joked around. And two, no one could force him to change. It was his life and he had control over it._

They had to know that he respected them, and that he had a high opinion of them, that he was confident in their skills. They needed to be believed in.

_Gibbs had done that for him, to a certain measure, but not enough that his teammates could see it. He would not have that problem on his team. Each team member would respect their coworkers and see that they brought something to the table. _

He wanted to see trust.

_He had an idea of how to go about gaining that, but it made him uncomfortable. Agent DiNozzo knew a lot about his ex co-workers, but they didn't really know a lot about him. Both were at fault, he for not sharing, and them for not bothering to ask or find out. Tony would need to be willing to share personal information with the new team bit by bit, to be honest about his pain or his screw ups or his guilt, if he wanted them to do the same for him. _

He wanted a real friendship to grow between the group.

_He knew so many law enforcement workers whose only real friends or geographically close friends were their co-workers, but the friendship was not always deep. As evidence his ex-team. Inviting the new team to his house a few times a month to hang out and watch movies should help with that. Tony wanted them to be close and as the leader he could make that happen._ Actually just the thought of that made him smile.

And that was the list so far, cause he was wiped, it was three am, and he had to be out of his house by 7:30 am to 8:00 am at the latest the next day, actually later that morning, time flies. First things first he needed to disable the answering machine, he did not need millions of messages. Next, he was changing his cell number, he phoned up his company and quickly dealt with that and phoned Vance leaving a message with his new cell number as well as asking about arranging an interview for Saturday at noon with Brad Lee. Actually, it would be kinda nice to have some time off for the next few days, Team Gibbs often worked even on weekends.

He next packed a bag with some clothes for the next few days. He would come back here Monday morning to get dressed nicely for work and he packed casually for the next few days. He brought a hanger with dress clothes for Saturday. He went to the washroom to get ready for a few hours of sleep then to set his alarm for 7:15, and he did just that.

**αααααα αααααα**

**Woot did you like it? ;)**

**Soo, you didn't get to hear the team's thoughts, but that is the next chapter for sure I promise. The real confrontation with Tony is yet to come, don't worry there will be a bunch of arguments, and it will be drawn out. But it might not be for a couple chapters. I hope to make it very realistic. So again, let me know if you have any ideas**.

**Kalvinanne :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey Guys ;)**

**me again :)**

**lol**

**you probly knew that already...**

**Sorry I'm in a silly mood, I'm listening to Business Time by Flight of the Conchords (to all who know them, you get why).**

**Anywho getting down to business ;), here is the next chapter. I really hope you guys love it, finally the teams reaction. Thank you guys again for all your reviews, to my faithful constant reviewers, as well as the new ones, anonymous or not. You guys have been so kind, and loving. I really appreciate it, its wonderful to know that you guys are enjoying my story. And to all who have favorited or tagged my story, THANKS :]**

**I realize that I always write long authors notes, but I figure if you don't like you can always just skip over hahaha. Cause I like to ramble for a bit sometimes. **

**One again, thank you Mike for reading everything over and being so encouraging! You are the best. **

**Hope you enjoy, Kalvinanne**

**NCIS is in no way my possession.**

CH 7

7:55 am NCIS office

"Ha, Tony is going to be late, Gibbs will be here any minute." Said Ziva, as she idly tidied her already immaculate desk.

"I don't know about that Ziva, he has pretty good last minute timing, just watch, the elevator will open up and he will walk right through." Tim rolled his eyes and glanced to the elevator from time to time, waiting for the revealing glow.

But, ten minutes later, still no Tony. Gibbs had glared around gruffly upon arrival, taking in the empty desk, but also noticing the lack of stuff on said desk.

"I'm sure he will be here any five minutes Gibbs." Ziva piped up.

"You mean any minute." Corrected Tim in absence of Tony.

"I meant five minutes, not any minute." Said Ziva with exasperation.

Gibbs ignored their banter and finally spoke up. "You two notice his clean desk space?"

"Yea, but with Tony there is always a reason, and we're thinking he might be pulling some elaborate or messy prank. You know how immature he is."

Gibbs nodded, conceding that point. Vance stood at the stairs reading their lips and shaking his head. The team was utterly clueless it seemed. He didn't wait for Gibbs to find the box of medals (Yes, Vance knew about that) under his desk and he quickly made his way onto the scene. They didn't need to call Tony, or tell him off.

"Well give him a call Ziva and tell him to get his butt in here if he still wants his job."

_That wasn't harsh at all, _thought Vance to himself. Out loud he said, "That won't be necessary." Before the team could speak up, he raised his hand for silence and continued. "Tony has been given a promotion and will be taking over his own team as lead investigator."

"What is this, a joke?" Laughed McGee.

"I don't think I understand." Were Ziva's slow words.

Gibbs, said nothing.

"Agent McGee, do you think I would joke about this? Really?" Reprimanded Vance sternly.

"No, but I don't get this, Tony can't run a team." Stated McGee incredulously.

"He is a little immature don't you think?" Added Ziva.

"Ziva, McGee." Gibbs said with a shushing hand movement that shut both of their mouths. "Vance, I never thought you two saw eye to eye, what changed things."

"I'm sorry, but that will remain between Tony and myself. And I think you should make your team aware of the fact that Tony is quite capable of leading a team. DiNozzo was your Senior Field Agent, was he not? McGee, he ran the team in Gibb's absence, did he not? During which time your closing rate did not decrease whatsoever." _What is this world coming to,_ he thought to himself shaking his head. _I never thought there would come a day when I would defend Anthony DiNozzo._

"But he did put an innocent man in jail by accident." Spoke up Ziva. Leon resisted the urge to throttle the Israeli. _The definition of team was lost on this group of people it seemed. Tony did not put an innocent man in jail, their team did, and yes, while he must carry the heavier load of blame, he shouldn't bear all of it. What has happened here?_

Vance said nothing aloud, instead he looked at Gibbs with an expression of shock and maybe a hint of contempt.

The two field agents seemed stupefied by the past moments proceedings. Gibbs remained expressionless, though he looked just a little bit peeved, judging by the clenched fists.

"Well. I guess that is all. Agent Gibbs you will need to appoint a Senior Field Agent and choose a new Probie." With that clipped response Vance began to walk away.

"Will he remain in DC?" Was Gibbs' brief response.

"Yes, he is taking over Gregor's team since she has passed. No, he is not working today." Was Leon's short reply to the brief question. That was all the information Vance was willing to give. He was dismayed by their responses, and the lack of joy for Tony's new position. At the same time, he was very curious as to what they would do next, would they hunt DiNozzo down to his house. Tony seemed to think so; he had gone so far as to change his cell number. Leon doubted the agent would be at home if he was smart and he was.

He walked away watching as Gibbs sat down at his desk and found the box of his medals underneath it. Jethro's reaction was saddening, he had the quickest flash of shock and upset, and then it was gone.

"McGee, you are the new SFA, I will inform you of your new duties after lunch. For now, you need to go down and inform Abby about Tony's new position, as I am sure he failed to tell anyone on his team." Gibbs' last words carried spite in them.

"Yes Boss." Was Tim's quiet response.

"David, I want you to look through the files of possible agents and make a list of twenty that you feel would be suitable to fill Tony's-" He paused and took a breath, "-rather, as our new probationary agent." And at that Jethro made his way down to the autopsy room.

Vance stared at the group of people branching off into different directions. _Gibbs and David held back any physical reactions of shock or true dismay. McGee did have a dazed expression, like someone who went too many rounds in the boxing ring. But, Leon wondered what the other two looked like inside. He really hoped this didn't permanently damage Team Gibbs. In the past he would have leapt at the opportunity to remove DiNozzo from the team. Now he wondered just how important his part was. It was hard to adjust to having one's opinions so forcibly altered. _

**αααααα αααααα**

_It was his duty to inform Ducky_ he told himself. Internally Gibbs was livid. _He would call Tony and tell him to get over to his house after work immediately to discuss why the hell Vance had to inform him that Tony had left his team. And an explanation for the fact that Vance seemed to be on Tony's side in this freak set of affairs was also necessary. _

"Ducky…Palmer."

"What is it Jethro?" said Ducky looking at the thunder cloud that was Gibbs.

"I'm here to inform you both that Tony has resigned from our team and is taking over Gregor's team."

"Well that is just wonderful, good for the dear boy. Anthony will still be in DC and it is time he had his own…" He trailed off seeing Gibbs grow more furious.

"Vance informed us, Ducky. Tony failed to show up to work. He didn't have the balls to tell the team."

"Umm, I will go clean that thing over there." Stuttered out Jimmy in a rush to get out of there.

Gibbs ignored him, missing the clenched teeth and anger in Palmer's eyes, and focused on Ducky.

**αααααα αααααα**

Jimmy left the room and passed by Abby's office. She appeared to be yelling at her cell phone while McGee looked on worriedly. Tim appeared to be on the computer...and he was using security cameras to look at Tony's house starting last night when he arrived at home, and then this morning when he left the house. Finally, they appeared to watch through enough video, because promptly at 7:30 they witnessed Tony leave the house.

_Jimmy really wanted to yell at every single one of the people on this team. Scream and wail and then logically point out to them their sheer pigheadedness. _

_Gibbs, you arrogant arse, you're so stuck in the fact that Tony didn't tell you bye, that you have decided to simply despise him. How old are you, five?_

_Jimmy had a few things he would say to the other team members if he could, but at the moment none of it was really that logical actually. He was still at the screaming and swearing stage._ The M.A. ducked into the nearest bathroom and continued seething in private.

**αααααα αααααα**

Upstairs, Ziva had tried both numbers as well, failing to reach Tony as his cell number no longer existed, and finding his home answering machine disabled. She swore a little in several languages including English, quietly, but with rage. _This was not like Tony, he would want to flaunt his win in our face. Something has to be wrong, if Vance himself hadn't come and told me I would be sure that he was kidnapped and this was all some elaborate drama. That, and the fact that Tony will be showing up to work here in this building means that this has to be real. But why has Tony effectively blocked us out of his personal life! _

_She tapped her long nails angrily on the desk wishing to pull out a knife and stab it a few times. In the end, she decided to do the work that Gibbs had asked of her, she would not waste any more time._

**αααααα αααααα**

About a half hour had passed and Gibbs walked into the lab to deal with a no longer crying but extremely irate Abby.

"Gibbs, Tim tells me that Tony told no one, not even you. What the heck is going on, you know everything Gibbs, like everything. Why didn't you know about this and why didn't Tony tell me? I thought we were friends. But he disabled his answering machine at home and his cell number isn't in service. Tim has been trying to find out where he went this morning but we can't figure it out. He left at 7:30 am and got on a bus! A bus, Gibbs, as in public transportation. You know, dirty seats, chewed gum, irritated or creepily happy drivers, long waits, hard chairs, close contact with numerous shifty people. And, either he has been riding this bus all morning or he got off dressed in completely different clothes simply because he didn't want to be traced. Cause we can't find him at all."

_This was said typical Abby style in that it lacked any breathing, and made only a small amount of sense. However, the fact that she was standing on Bert angrily stomping her foot down repetitively was not normal. Nor were the odd hybrid farting sounds coming out of the dying stuffed animal_, thought Gibbs dryly.

Gibbs first thoughts were, _well I won't be leaving that angry phone call. Guess a house visit will be required. _"Well, Abby, he will eventually be coming in to work. You can question him all you want then. DiNozzo will be working here, as I'm sure McGee informed you, so really you have nothing to be very upset about." He gave her a hesitant hug avoiding the prostrate animal at her feet. She didn't hug him back and instead stood stiffly in his embrace. _A quick fix had been expected, but he didn't have anything to offer her._

"You're right Gibbs, I will yell at him in person. I am not wasting any more precious time or tears on him." _She wiped at her eyes stiffly, despite the puffiness she lacked any mascara tracks, probly wore some kind of waterproof makeup_, thought Gibbs. He looked at her again trying to make eye contact. Instead she visibly pulled herself together. The lack of emotions meant that she was extremely angry. He shuddered on behalf of Tony, before remembering how furious he was with the kid.

She continued, "You guys get back to work, I'm sure you need Tim."

"Thanks Abb," he said, laying a kiss on her cheek.

As they walked down the hall, McGee went to speak up, but Gibbs beat him. "McGee, if Tony doesn't want to be found he won't be. I want you to go work on cold cases, until we get a new case.

**αααααα αααααα**

Tony had woken up at about 7 and set his plan into motion. The_ best way out of the house involved at least one camera. He had rented the place purposefully, if he was ever kidnapped there would be at least one view of him getting out. The only outfit that he personally owned for undercover work besides that of a homeless man was an old bus driver uniform. Ahh well, he could work with that. _

He grabbed a bus and changed in the back._ To the kids ogling him at the back of the bus he said that he was a police agent undercover. They appeared skeptical, but he was pretty sure they bought it when he seriously put on the entire outfit and opened his bag giving them a slight glance at his weapon. That was the first highlight of the day. _

He finally made it to his destination at around nine am. It had taken several very long bus rides to get there. Nala had phoned him early that morning asking if he could come get his stitches out early, because she had to go in to work for the afternoon to cover a friend's shift. He was to come at nine, because the girls would both be at school at that time. On the plus side his teammates would not have a clue about his destination and hopefully second guess that he was the guy dressed as a bus driver.

He knocked on the door and got a real kick out of her reaction, first shock, and then a look of acceptance. Like, I should have known he was a crazy.

"What is this, a case? You better not be bringing trouble to my door Aiden." Said Nala with a hand on her hip and another arm on the doorframe, as if she could block him from getting into the house.

He felt his grin grow even bigger. "Don't worry, it's nothing serious and you have nothing to worry about, I'm just trying to stay under my boss' radar. No criminals involved at all." He assured Nala seriously, wanting her to know that he would never do anything that might endanger her or her family.

"Mmhm." Was her only response, though she did take her arm down. Tony laughed. He had yet to put his finger on Nala's personality, so far she was simply momish. Yes, he knew that wasn't a word. She wasn't overly girly, really punk, or a classy dresser. The petite woman wore the cheapest and simplest clothing. He didn't really have a good grasp on her personality either, other than the fact that she was a big kid, and fan of animation, but again that fell under mom category.

They made their way into her living room. "So, I totally don't want to make this awkward, but I'm sure you will." She said with a laugh. "I'm trying to think of the most comfortable way for me to take out your stitches, since we don't have a lay back chair like I would use at the office. Unfortunately, I'm thinking my bed might be the best place."

He smiled, but didn't take the opportunity to really push this into an inappropriate joke. She was doing a real favor for him, besides she knew a bit too much about him, like the fact that he had a phobia of doctors. "Haha, I'm sure that there was no other place, I don't think I would've really appreciated the hard kitchen table. Thanks for offering your bed. Do you have everything ready to go?"

"Yes I do, so we can go ahead on in. I'm going to start with your back and the back of your arms and then we will move to the front, okay? I might need to take a break in the middle. And I'm sure _you_ will, because getting stitches out isn't exactly the most comfortable experience, especially since you have so many." She looked at him sympathetically. With that they moved to her bedroom.

**αααααα αααααα**

Within minutes he had his shirt off and had lain down on her bed. Nala pulled a tray of tools closer to him and settled herself on the bed on his other side and began to cut through the stitches, placing them in a bowl beside her. _She decided she would go with silence this time and focus, because she didn`t want to hurt him and she wanted to be fast and efficient. There were a lot of stitches to remove and she wanted to be done sooner rather than later. Again she had to fight the nausea that reared its head when she saw the numerous contusions. You need to be clinical,_ she reminded herself. _Seeing him as her friend made it much harder._

_Tony seems quiet today_, was her first thought after removing more than sixty stitches from his back alone. _He hasn`t said a word._ Leaning over she looked his face. _The man is asleep_, she thought to herself with surprise. _He must be exhausted; they really do overwork him_.

_This must be a zero on his pain scale for him to fall asleep. This startled her, for some the removal of this many stitches would be a four or even a five, s_he thought sadly. But, knowing that he was asleep made him a less stressful patient. Nala focused once more on her work, gazing down at the patchy scars that were a result of some sick person's handiwork.

That's when she noticed the faded scars, there were many on his back and being a nurse she recognized that they were very old, decades so. There were burn marks, small and circular, probably from a cigar, and then lines, which she had a feeling were from a belt. This conclusion was made from experience, she had dealt with abuse cases in her time. She bit back a gasp as she took in a breath of air. She was not a weepy woman, at least she hadn't been for a while, and now wasn't the time to start. _Pull yourself together_.

_Then she began to wonder about his relationship with Tawnie. So that was why her daughter felt comfortable with him. Tawnie had told her that sometimes she shared a tiny bit about her dirt bag father with Tony. Nala had wondered how he got her to open up. Her daughter hadn't explained that he was abused; she was loyal to a T. But, it seemed fairly obvious that Tony had spoken up. _

_This brought a tear or two to her eyes, for the little boy Tony and the adult, who seemed to be hurt by his co-workers as well. She was such a softy, if Tony knew he would probably tell her not to worry, and that she was overreacting. But, no one should have to go through such thorough rejection in their lifetime. Yes, she was certain that it was thorough, if teammates were willing to talk poorly of him to a complete stranger then there must be something off with their relationship. Although, she supposed it was always possible that Tony really was a jerk and that she had missed something. _

_Startled, she realized that her earlier reservations had been skillfully disabled by Agent DiNozzo. Should she still be guarded? Maybe she should, at least a little bit. In the past, all of her trust brought only bruises, and a great deal of heartbreak. It wasn't the time to be making those same mistakes. However, she wasn't marrying him, and accepting him as a friend couldn't hurt. Maybe she would do a bit of research on Agent Anthony DiNozzo. She did have some friends on the force, spousal abuse led to some unique connections, _she thought ruefully.

Eventually, she finished removing all the stitches in his back and the back of his arms. His skin was pretty dry and she was going to advise he use some cream to help with that and also to prevent serious scarring. She went and got a bottle of simple vaseline based moisturizer and began to rub it in. _She decided then and there that she would love on him with all her motherly skills!_ _Nala,_ she firmly reprimanded herself. _What happened to your plans of caution?_ _But, being motherly seems safer then having a friendship, s_he argued back and forth. She lay back on the bed beside him and rested her sore back. Tony began to stir. Again, he appeared to freeze at the unfamiliar surroundings until he remembered where he was. The sleepy brunette sat up realizing Nala was no longer working on his back.

"Oops, I fell asleep on you." He said with a yawn and a smile. He ran a hand through his mussy hair. "I didn't get much sleep last night. How's your back?"

"Clearly, I can't believe you slept through that. I think you're the first patient I've ever had do that. And my back is good, I'm just taking a short break before I do the rest of your stitches." She propped herself up on one elbow. Stopping there she tried to decide whether or not she wanted to broach the topic of his older scars. _She wanted him to know that she knew, but didn't want to have this conversation now._ _You are a total chicken. _ _She knew that she had to do it now, cause if she didn't then she would feel like she was lying to him._ "Tony, I noticed the older scars. I'm sorry."

"I thought you might, you're a nurse, plus I figured Tawnie might have told you, not the specifics of course, which you just got to see up close and personal." He paused staring at her quizzically, looking for her reaction. But he made no physical response to whatever he saw in her face. "Anyway, it is far in my past. I was a young kid when it happened. So don't get too upset about it, okay?" He tried to smile, but he looked weary.

"Tony, thanks. Thanks for taking Tawnie under your wing. Scott was a real piece of work, and the girls really need a good male role model. I haven't really gotten up the nerve to venture into the dating world, but then you showed up. And yes, at first glance I was skeptical, and my perception of you was wrong. But, sometimes it takes a bit of time to really get to know someone, and the thing is I'm an overprotective mother, it's easier to be hard sometimes. So, thanks."

He smiled, a real smile, filled with appreciation. "You're welcome, and I'm sorry too, about your husband. Sometimes life sucks and all you can do is get up and punch it back in the face. I'm glad you did that, metaphorically speaking of course."

"I did it literally too." She said with a grin that went from ear to ear. He laughed out loud.

"Good for you!"

"Well, I think I'm about ready to do your chest."

He smirked. She watched as he fought hard not to say anything dirty. Instead he came out with, "Thanks again, I really appreciate you doing this for me." He continued in a more serious tone. "I have this pathetic fear of doctors, and well, our autopsy doctor usually handles things like this for me, but he is really close to my boss, who I am not really on speaking terms with ish. Geez, why am I blabbering on? Did you drug me?" And for a second she saw the very slightest hint of upset in his eyes and she knew that although he was joking, he was a little bit serious. He seemed to have as many trust issues as she did.

"Tony, I would never, ever, drug you without permission." She said with sincerity. "You are probably just over tired, again, you fell asleep while I took out hundreds of stitches from your back. That is plain odd. And, it really is not a problem. Think of it as me helping out a friend, if you could I know you would do a favor like this for your friends. " He nodded seemingly reassured.

"Friends, huh. I like that, okay, I think I can handle that." With that he lay on his back and allowed her to continue working. Neither spoke out loud the awkwardness of the situation. Nala was mortified that there was a blush on her cheeks as she worked. She was supposed to be a nurse for goodness sake.

Tony winked a little, and once in a while would nudge her hand with his chest. However, his mouth remained silent. She glared and grew redder by the second. Her long hair, which she had pinned up in a bun, was starting to fall down. She eyed him from behind the curtain of hair. He was certainly good looking, even with all the scars. They would be a turn on for any woman, either as simply a sign of his strength or of his loyalty. They would attract superficial or caring women. Eventually, she had removed the last stitch, and this time she did _not_ rub the cream in herself. She passed the bottle to him and explained the need for various anti scarring, and moisturizing creams now that the skin had been brought together.

A little bit later, after he had dressed, they took a seat in the living room on her sofa and chatted amicably before her work. She glanced at him, taking in his posture and chalking it up as one more check for Tony DiNozzo. _He was such a contradiction. They were seated on the couch, she was sprawled out, feet lying on the small table in front of them, hands resting loosely at her sides. In contrast, he was sitting up straight, feet on the floor, hands clasped tightly together. Tony had missed her cues to relax and instead looked like he was sitting at a dinner trying to impress someone with his manners. He seemed oblivious to his actions and she began to wonder if this was his natural mode of behaviour. Did he have to work at the ambivalence he usually portrayed? What kind of upbringing did he have, she thought pondering the scars. _

"So do you have to go back in to work today?" She asked.

"Actually, no, I have the day off, I'm probably gonna go back to sleep after I leave here."

She laughed, "You have no idea how happy I am to hear that. I swear, that's the biggest talk around here, 'Tony works too hard, or Tony needs to take a break…' The list goes on."

"I'm glad to know that I'm a subject in this household. I'm touched, really." The last words were very sincere in contrast to the wry expression in his voice.

"You're very cared for in our house, though I don't know why that is. You are quite insufferable."

"Me, insufferable? What are you talking about?" He gave her a dramatic look of sheer dismay.

She just pursed her lips in response to this.

"Well, Nala, thank you again for being so wonderful and doing this amazing favor. I am so lucky to have you as a friend." The last part was said hesitantly.

"You're welcome, and I am glad that you've joined our little family." She smiled, seeking eye contact with him. He ducked his head.

"Well I'm gonna head out and get myself some sleep. I will see you later on tonight."

"Sure." And with that she let him out the door. About ten minutes later, she suddenly realized he had not driven here. How on earth did he get here? She quickly ran to the door and looked down the street. Quite a bit a ways down he was sitting at a bus stop.

Great, just what I need, another confrontation with Tony. She braced her shoulders and decided to run down and figure out what on earth was going on.

**αααααα αααααα**

**Sooo, what did you think? let me know, and I'm gonna stick with asking for a favorite line. If you can take the time to do so I'd greatly appreciate it :) But no pressure... hahahahha**

**And continue to enjoy, I hope you liked their reactions, don't worry there will be more confrontation ;) I really quite enjoy writing arguments I've found lolz. **

**Kalvinanne**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey everybody :D**

**So this is my last chapter until around the sixteenth of August. I made it super long, this is over five thousand words. So I really hope you guys love it ;). I'd love to come back to a whole bunch of reviews, so please pretty please take a few moments just to write a favorite line, or tell me how you feel.**

**Honestly I take everything you guys say into account and I think that you help to make my story better. I got a bunch of advice in the last chapter's review and I'd love to get some more, your opinion matters to me, because as much I'm writing this for me, I'm also writing it for you guys (otherwise I wouldn't have posted it hahahah). For example, one reader commented on the fact that she wasn't sure if she liked team Gibbs' reaction. This made me realize that I hadn't explained a few things when it comes to Tony's teammates. Thus, I added a section in here with more of the team's thoughts. This would have never existed if it weren't for you guys. :)**

**Thanks for all of your reviews and comments, favorites, follows and all the silent readers. :D You make my day. Eighty plus reviews! ;) you guys are the best, know that your encouragement makes me wanna write more.**

**A guest wanted to know if Tony is mad at Abby or just keeping his distance due to Gibbs. And my answer is, neither. Hahaha. I feel like I'm being way too nice to you guys by giving you extra info, but I couldn't answer the guest privately so everyone gets to know. Tony is hurt and disappointed in Abby, so he is actually avoiding her and not just because of Gibbs. (thanks to this particular guest for all the love ;)**

**Again, big thanks to Mike, my beta. He is so great and helpful, you guys have him to thank for some added description, as I must admit that I am one of those writers that likes dialogue/banter, but can easily forget about laying out the scene. He has given me tons of advice, and I know that you guys will enjoy the story that much more because of it.**

**Kalvinanne**

**NCIS is not my creation :'(**

Ch 8

"Tony!"

_DiNozzo looked up startled to see Nala racing down the road, looking quite absurd actually. Or maybe that wasn't the right word, was something wrong, did something happen to Tawnie, Kiera? She hadn't even stopped to put on shoes. _

"What's wrong?" He said coming towards her at a fast pace.

"Nothing, I mean something, but not anything to worry about. Just, what are you doing?" She said between deep intakes of air working to regulate her fast breathing.

He felt relief wash over him. "Umm, I'm waiting at this bus stop…" He said with a confused expression. With one hand, he gripped the cold metal pole that bore a small sign listing stops for the bus. While his other hand waved in a gesture of, _see this, as _he watched her catch her breath.

"It was a rhetorical question, like, a question that was supposed to make you realize what you are doing is really dumb." She said with a smile that eased the slightly mean response.

"And why is waiting at a bus stop super dumb? Hmm?"

"Because you could have asked for a ride. How far is your house from here? And I guess I could be considered pretty idiotic myself. It took me ten minutes to realize that you didn't drive here."

"Nala, you've already given me enough of your time, I'm perfectly fine to take a bus." Tony smiled and latched his other hand to the pole: he would not give up his post.

She rolled her eyes. "Tony, it wouldn't be an imposition. Where do you live?" She said patting his shoulder.

_He smiled at her touch, she was such a sweetheart__. __Nala really went out of her way for him, and probably did so for everyone._ "Well, actually I'm going to a friend's house. You know how I mentioned I was avoiding my boss, well, I'm staying away from my house." He said the last sentence in a rush and began gnawing on his lower lip in worry.

"Are you making this up? I'm not that gullible, even if I may look it." She said dubiously.

_Tony could feel his cheeks growing warm, and he was sure there were twin flames on his face. _ "It's the truth." Tony kept his response short, hoping the clipped voice would get her to drop it. He looked up to see if the bus was in sight. No bus. Knowing his luck, he had just missed it and might have to wait up forty-five minutes.

"What on earth is going on, and uhh, if you don't mind my asking, why don't you just not answer the door?" _Nala said this like she was talking to a small child about why he couldn't have cookies before dinner, Tony thought to himself. She spoke slowly, softly and yet it wasn't necessarily degrading, it was like she was trying to be nice, taking the time to explain to him the foolishness of his actions._

"I couldn't just bar the door. Gibbs would pick the locks, or break down the door, or break a window, whatever is fastest and most efficient."

_She didn't say a word, simply gaped, mouth opening and closing, like she couldn't pick the right response to his short speech. _Tony smirked; she glared and seemed to find herself.

"You're still working for this man because…?"

_Tony paused at that question, he didn't usually share his personal life with other people, but he was getting close to this family, and it wasn't like him changing jobs would be kept a secret for long. Alright, I guess the decision is made he thought to himself._

"Actually, that is why I'm avoiding him." He paused rubbing the back of his head and avoiding eye contact. "I kinda quit my job." Tony looked up past Nala, still no bus.

Her eyes bugged out at this, and he rushed to explain, "Don't worry, I have another job opportunity, here in the city, working on another team in the NCIS DC building."

_She looked utterly flabbergasted. But this look was replaced by something that resembled satisfaction. He wondered at the reasons for that. Then she got this squint in her eye, like she was trying to think very hard about what she wanted to say next. _

"It's okay to ask a little bit." He finally spoke into the awkward pause.

This time it was her turn to blush a bit. "Sorry, I guess I'm trying to figure out what to even ask. What is even appropriate to ask? I don't really want to pry." She said searching his face.

"My first thoughts are 'Whoah, you actually quit. If you disliked your work enough to do so, then I'm very happy for you.' This is followed by, 'Are you sure the same problems won't crop up where you now work?' And then, of course the more nosy, 'What kind of problems are there? I mean clearly you like the job itself since you're doing the same job, so then that means it's more personal, right?' Sorry, I feel like I just word vomited on you. Don't feel that you need to answer those." _Her blush grew even deeper and she began to twist her hair around one finger, in what he assumed was a worry habit. _

_The real question in all this was what did he "want" to tell her? She was giving him the choice to share or not. If he didn't share though, it would probably hurt her. It would make it glaringly obvious just how deep his trust issues went. This could be good practice, _he told himself_, _trying to work up the nerve to share._ You're going to have to share sometime soon, that's what you said you wanted to do with the new team. He nearly Gibbs' smacked himself; but fortunately was able to fight off the urge. Now, open up your mouth and share a little bit, it doesn't have to be a lot! _

They both went to speak at the same time,

"Well-"

"I'm sorry-"

The two flushed and smirked at each other.

"Go ahead, " said Tony.

"Sorry, it's okay, you go ahead."

"Well, in answer to your questions. You're correct in thinking that it's a personal matter. The personal issues are in regards to my teammates and my boss. Misunderstandings have cropped up over the years, and our relationships have been harmed as a result." _That wasn't vague at all, he thought berating himself. You can't give her any more information than that?_

"And I am really hoping that the same thing doesn't happen on my new team. My new job gives me more control over the group dynamics because I'll take on the task of team leader. NCIS agents work in teams, usually numbering four. You have the Supervisory Special Agent, aka the team leader, the Senior Field agent, who is second in charge, a Special Agent, who falls next in line and then a Probationary Agent who will eventually become the second Special Agent."

He watched as she processed the information, looking sad and then speculative.

The silence of the moment was interrupted by the motorized sound of a loud vehicle just a little way down. DiNozzo saw the glowing seventy-six that said this was his bus. He looked at Nala, then waved the bus on before it could pull to a stop. Instead he smelled the dirty cloud of exhaust as it drove away. He had weighed the pros and cons, and knew that Nala won out this time.

"So, what was your job position before?"

"I was the Senior Field agent."

"Then, this is a promotion?"

"Yes, it is." He said, smiling.

"Well that's wonderful news, geez, that sounds exciting. Your team didn't seem to hate you when I visited, aren't they happy for you?" _And she goes right for the jugular_, he thought to himself. _He paused looking around trying to come up with some legitimate excuse to have this conversation another time. Sadly, the street was silent now. There had been an older couple out walking at the beginning of their conversation, but at the moment there was no one. The sidewalk they stood on was empty, and the clean cut, similar looking beige and brown houses had their blinds closed. A couple of homes had kids toys out front, but no kids, and any basketball nets lacked the ball and the kid. Next he looked up, searching for an excuse, but the sky was perfectly blue, with no clouds in sight. Nala's neighbourhood and the weather were against him. He wanted to groan, but fought of the urge. Nala lifted an eyebrow when he finally stopped looking around, but she wasn't going to let him off the hook. _

"Meh, my boss is a unique guy and well, if I had told him to his face that I was leaving his team because I wanted to lead my own there is a chance that he might have been happy. I don't really know anymore. I didn't want to deal with him laughing at me, or my team taking it as a joke. They don't really take me seriously." He looked at her pleading that she wouldn't make a joke and would just let him spit out the rest of what he had to say. She didn't say a word, and nodded at him to continue.

"At one time we were pretty close but things have been strained between us for a while, and a little bit back he kept a ton of information from me during a case which had some negative ramifications. I don't think he trusts me enough to keep me in the loop and well-. Either way, I didn't tell him. Our Director informed my old team today. I was too chicken to deal with it. Pretty weak right?"

"Not weak, just, that really sucks. Still, if you felt uncomfortable telling your boss about something that should have made him happy, than I'm glad you're on a new team. I would think that trust is a really big deal in your job. So are you going to tell the girls about this new job?" He thanked God for the subject change. She had placed a hand on his shoulder and this time she didn't remove it right away.

"Yup, trust is pretty key and it's hard for me to give my trust to someone, so losing that, well, it's a big deal." He continued more light heartedly. "And yeah, I'll tell the girls. I need their creativity actually, for some things I have in mind." He wriggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"Oh dear, you wouldn't happen to be breaking in your new co-workers, the hard way, would you? And while we continue this conversation lets walk back to my house, I'm standing out here in socked feet, something I tell my girls never to do." Nala said leaning on him for balance as she wriggled her toe. The dirt covered heel of her white socks was obvious.

"Nala, that's gross. He wrinkled his nose. P.U you got some stinky feet. And I am taking the bus, you do not need to drive me." He said exasperatedly.

"I have stinky feet? That is not true, I shower every day for your information and these feet are dirty because of you. In fact I think you owe me a new pair of socks. And, Tony, do you really think you are going to win this argument? Really…" She said barely concealing the glee at her certain success.

He looked at her glaring, "No. But I will buy you new socks, and your feet are atrocious smelling, like beetle dung."

"Beetle dung, what does that even smell like? And move your butt then, my socks are getting dirty standing here."

_For her pig-headedness, Tony really, really wanted to pick her up and throw her over his shoulder, but he didn't want to scare her, and he didn't know her all that well yet, so he settled for smiling his suspicious-I'm-up-to-no-good-smile.._

"What are you grinning about?"

"Ohh, I was just thinking that it would be funny to pick you up and throw you over my shoulder. To keep your socks from getting more dirty of course." He nodded his head reiterating his words with a physical yes.

"You wouldn't." She said laughingly. _Tony searched her eyes for any sign of true fear, but there didn't seem to be any._

"Actually, I think I might." _Slowly, he began to move towards her, again searching for any sign of fear in her eyes. Instead she doubted him, well, challenge accepted. Quickly now DiNozzo went about grasping her in his arms and throwing her over his shoulder so that her head and arms were hanging over his back. This was not romantic, no bridal carrying for him. Nala was surprisingly light, maybe a little bit too light. Some fattening up was in store. The young woman carried a lot on her small shoulders. _

"Tony!" She laughed. "Put me down this instant."

"Nuhuh, this is the price you pay for forcing me to get a ride from you; the cost for my prolonged exposure to your presence."

"Prolonged exposure?" She snorted and laughed again.

"Was that a snort I heard?"

"Nope. Me, snort?" She asked with buttery smoothness.

"What am I going to do with you? Clearly you need some training about how to be a lady."

"I know how to be a lady! That is an awful thing to say, you are going to have to do some serious kissing up to fix that mistake."

He changed her position in his arms so he was carrying her like a child. "You can't handle the truth." He said putting on a voice.

"Seriously, you're going with A Few Good Men in this situation."

"Well nobody's perfect…"

"That did salvage it a little, I assume you were going for Joe E. Brown, "Some Like it Hot"."

"Okay, I think I just died and went to heaven right now." He stated dreamy eyed.

"Wait a minute, wait a minute. You ain't heard nothin' yet." Nala said with a put on voice.

"The Jazz Singer? One of my favorites, known for initiating the sound in silent pictures. Plus, the music is first rate. Where on earth did you get your movie knowledge? At work I'm stuck making common movie quotes, ones that hopefully will be recognized. You just pulled that out of a dank musty hat. 1927, wow."

She smiled. "You can put me down now."

"Right, right, sorry." He said placing her on her feet as they reached the door.

"And in answer to your question: my husband went on a lot of business trips and therefore I had a lot of spare time on my hands for the last three years of our marriage. I didn't work at that time, and so I took up movie watching." She answered with astounding honesty, "How about you? You don't seem to have a lot of time on your hands now."

Tony decided an answer like that deserved a serious response. "Kinda similar for me too, actually. My dad went away for business often, when I was a kid, and his movie collection was quite expansive, we were rather wealthy." He paused there waiting for her response to this. She didn't blink an eye. Hmm, either she knew wealth, or it really didn't matter to her. "Anyways, I grew up on oldies and to this day I am a crazy movie collector."

She perked up at his last words. "Really, I think I will have to see that collection. And I'm sorry that you didn't have the greatest childhood. Who would believe that you and I have any similarities." She said the last part with a grin. "Not that my childhood was bad." She amended, "Rather, we both were similarly ditched by people we cared about. And actually I had a fairly wealthy upbringing myself. My parents were ambassadors, but I did not spend a great deal of time in India. I'm an American; I don't really have any accent at all."

_Tony absorbed this information, interested. The parents must have passed on, because she was not wealthy at all, that much was evident, and he was sure that if they were around they would have helped her provide for the children. Also, she also did not appear to have any malice against them: when she said 'parents' there was a soft edge, so it wasn't like they were holding back support. Did she miss the material possessions? _He wondered.

"That must have been quite an interesting childhood. Your parents…" He let the question hang in the air.

"They passed away, my mother had cancer, and my father died shortly after of a heart attack. I wasn't surprised, he truly loved her. And at the time I was married, and settled down, and he was unaware of the umm, dysfunction, in our relationship. My husband was a lawyer; a smooth talker, and I was completely oblivious to his true nature for quite a while." Nala stopped fairly abruptly, signalling that it was time for a conversation change.

"I'm sorry for your loss. I understand the pain of losing a mother, it's tough." He dipped his head.

"Now, when do you need to be at work for hmm? I don't want to make you late." _The duo ended up preparing for departure shortly after. Nala had gathered a snack for work, and got dressed in her scrubs, which were cute. They were decorated with funny cartoons: a mammoth and some kind of tiger with giant teeth, a weird mutant looking animal with big eyes on either side of a football shaped head. Alongside the animals were various ice drifts. _

"That's quite the unique looking cartoon on your shirt." _DiNozzo figured his lack of knowledge would send her over the edge and he wasn't let down. It had become quite amusing to watch her face light with horror every time she realized he had no clue whatsoever about any classic animation._

"You don't know Ice Age, that is like a favorite of mine! Oh my goodness, Tony. I am so sorry, I can't believe what you've been missing out. The comedy in this one in particular is actually hilarious. I know you would love it! Kay, memo made, we are watching this next time you come over!"

_Quickly,_ _she grew embarrassed by her outburst. Nala was filled with contradictions. She would burst into these little mini goofy rants, and then act mature and quiet. It was like she was a mother one hundred percent, but there was a tiny bit of inner child in her, something she fought to stifle. He wasn't sure if that was a result of motherhood, or she had learned to hide her silliness given the upbringing she most certainly had._

Out loud he chortled at her undignified facial expression. _It was like she was wincing, trying to hold back an excited grin and attempting to remain serious, it was hilarious. _

"Aiden! Just come along and get in the car."

"Yes Mom. Can I sit in the front seat please?"

She went to smack him upside the head, but noticed his flinch immediately and dropped her hand. It was awkward, neither said anything for a moment, both trying to decide if they should just ignore it. Each got into the car, buckling their seat belts; busying their hands.

_What is going on here? I've already shared enough information with this woman. The urge to shake his fist at the sky was tough to resist. He needed to clarify so that she didn't think that he was permanently jumpy from his childhood, but did he want to share, no!_

"Sorry." _Now, where could he go from there? DiNozzo decided to just plunge ahead and let his mouth do the talking. He was good at coming up with stuff at the last minute, that's one of the things that made him a good investigator._

"So, you know how I said that things have been bad at work. Well, my boss always gives-gave- me these smacks upside the head when I annoyed him. It was meant to be playful, ya know." He looked to her for reassurance, and she nodded. "But, what with our whole new awkward relationship I've started to feel totally threatened by him every time." _Well that didn't sound dumb at all he thought sarcastically before plodding on._

"Anyways, now I have to refrain from flinching or punching him every time he goes to smack me…I think our messed up unfriendship is just dredging up past memories…basically." _Again, that was skilled Tony_, he reprimanded himself, _where did your smooth side go? Down the drain_ he answered. He looked to see her reaction.

"So, what you are saying is, that your boss, who you don't trust, hits you on the head when you irritate him?" She said slowly.

"Yeah, don't think he's abusing me or anything, honestly, it's never bothered me before now. It's just supposed to snap me out of whatever ramble I'm on. I tend to goof around at work; it helps lighten the mood when you're dealing with dead people all the time. But, the negative result is that as much as it distracts everyone, it also can be slightly bothersome. The idea of a grown man being smacked sounds kind of funny doesn't it. When we first met in Baltimore while I was still a young cop I really pissed him off and vice versa. By the end of it the smacks were more his way of acknowledging me, it's not like guys can give each other hugs you know." He watched as she paused and clearly imagined him giving another man a big heartfelt hug and she started to laugh.

"Hey now…you are not allowed to imagine me giving other men hugs. Remove the image from your head immediately, I am extremely manly okay! Extremely! Manly!"

"Okay, okay, calm down your manliness is perfectly safe, you are probably one of the manliest guys I know."

"Mmhm…and how many guys do you know?"

"Not a lot." She said with a grin. _Tony glowered at her before realizing that he should give her directions to Jimmy's house. That done, they continued on their way. She played some music…a cd she had in the car. It was mellow jazz, no words. _

"Totally lame music I know…my daughter is not a big fan at all. But then again, I don't like her music so, too bad right?" She spoke up shamefaced.

"Actually, I happen to like jazz and instrumental tracks, I'm pretty open to most music." Was his response, to her surprise.

In about fifteen minutes they had arrived, with little speech on either part. Both were content in the quiet of the vehicle. _Tony was busy thinking about the drama ahead of him. When he began to worry about facing the team he gave himself a mental shake. He had Jimmy, and this would be a great weekend for the two of them. The idea of a 'manover' made him grin. Plus, he had another movie night with his girls, tonight. And he had a new team, and despite the altercations ahead of him, he was excited. _

"Well, Jimmy is still at work, but you guys should meet some time. He's a really good guy. And I guess I'm off to get some sleep."

"Okay. And as long as you don't decide that we girls are not worth your time, I'm sure that I will meet him at some point." _Where did that insecurity come from? He wondered._

Tony turned and looked her in the eyes. "You guys are worth a hundred percent of my time. Do you know why I stayed here to work instead of fleeing the area? It was because of Jimmy and you three girls. I am not exiting your life until you boot me out." Said Tony candidly. He wanted to make sure that she knew that this wasn't a joke.

"Thanks." Was her quiet response. If it hadn't seemed so awkward he would have put a hand on Nala's shoulder to physically reassure her. Instead he settled for a smile, and a quick pat.

"See you tonight." He yelled as he walked to the door. Promptly upon entering the house, he found the guest room, pulled off his shirt and fell into bed. Tony did his best to banish the thoughts of his old team, but their accusing faces seemed to follow him.

**αααααα αααααα**

Tim and Ziva were sitting near the back of a little café five minutes from work. _That is, five minutes with me driving,_ thought Ziva with pride.

"Well I certainly didn't expect this to happen when I walked into work this morning." Said Tim, breaking the silence.

"No Tim, neither did I."

"It-it, was just so odd. Everything about it seems completely backwards. Vance is always on Tony's back, but I felt like he was reprimanding us."

"I agree it definitely felt like he was rebuking us. There must be something that we have missed."

The two were interrupted by the arrival of their food. The waiter brought their lunch, a sandwich for Ziva and a bowl of soup for Tim. The rolls in the basket between them were fresh from the oven; toasty warm to the touch. Each tore a loaf open, Ziva applying a liberal amount of butter which melted immediately. When the waiter walked away having refreshed their ice teas they continued with their conversation.

"I had Abby look at the tapes for the past few days, Tony went in early to talk with Vance yesterday morning, very early. Of course he was up to his usual trouble making. The man stuck something up Briant's nose while he was sleeping. Honestly, I just don't think that Tony is that mature. And of course, how can he lead a team when his skills with technology are sub par at best. I don't hate Tony, really you know I don't. He's like a brother to me-an extremely aggravating brother, but a brother nonetheless. However, I truly cannot picture him as a leader. Our time with him in charge was not the greatest, I pity the team stuck with him. But, I will miss him."

_Ziva listened to what he had to say, keeping some of her thoughts to herself. It was certainly obvious that Tony was immature. But, as to his intelligence, she disagreed. She knew that much of Tony's silly actions were a front. He was more knowledgeable then he appeared. Having read through her dossiers on him thoroughly, she knew that he had a decently high IQ, despite the fact that he lacked several degrees. But miss him, no, at the moment she would not miss him. This she chose to share with McGee._

"You will miss him? Right now I am too filled with rage to think that far into the future. Where is your anger Tim? Why did he not think that we should know about his promotion?" Her voice grew in tempo, and she watched as Tim gave a quick look around to see who they were disturbing. She quieted and looked around as well. This café was fairly busy; it was a popular place to get a good sandwich and other light and healthy fare. The chattering of young and old groups filled the background. Interspersed, one could hear the rustle of a newspaper or the tapping of a laptop. Fortunately the two agents were near the back of the café, but those closest to them were watching. A young boy gazed openly with curiosity, while the older couple-who may have had the same idea to sit in the back where it is quieter- were staring pointedly and muttering under their breath.

"Well Ziva, you know me, I'm not really an angry person." He started in a quiet voice, "Not that I'm saying you are-" he quickly backed up at her expression. "Moving on, I have no idea why he didn't share. I'm more confused by the situation then angry. I can't imagine how Gibbs will deal with Tony once he shows up. The man has been a tyrant all morning."

Ziva nodded. _Gibbs had been crashing his way around since he heard the news. Once or twice she had spotted him stomping up the stairs towards the Director's office, only to turn back around with a furious expression on his face. _

"That is true, I'm glad I am not Tony. I also feel pity for his team. I simply do not feel that he will be successful in a supervisory position. I respect Gibbs, and I also fear him. Have you heard of Machiavelli's treatise, "The Prince". His writings are much respected and what he teaches has been emulated by many political leaders. "It is safer to be feared than loved." I do not fear Tony in any way, he does not garner any such terror with his speech, as Gibbs does, nor with his physical skills." Stated Ziva adamantly. _She thought briefly to Michael's murder- sorry, death. DiNozzo's success had been due to the alcohol level she reminded herself firmly. _

"Yes I have heard of "The Prince", and it's true that Tony is not exactly a fear inspiring guy. Although, that one time when you two were undercover as a couple and he was beating that guy while attached to the chair…uhhh." McGee shivered. "Tony is quite capable of handling himself in a fight."

"I agree, that time was certainly, umm…freaky?"_ She looked to McGee for confirmation of the word choice. _"But that was one time. One. Have you seen Gibbs and Tony fight, Gibbs is always the victor. It is true that at times Tony stands up to the Boss verbally, but that is rare. I could never follow Agent DiNozzo's orders, having him lead our team was awful. I know that you agree, for you did not show him any more respect than I did. I know that these feelings are not simply because I am Mossad, even Abby wanted Gibbs back. Tony is not fit to run his own team, not in my eyes." McGee nodded slowly, swallowing the last few bites of his soup while she spoke.

"I know that Gibbs usually bests Tony, but he's a marine. At the same time, I don't know if I agree with the idea of leading by fear only. I suppose that is what Gibbs' does; I wouldn't call him a guy who leads by love that's for sure. I guess I would prefer someone to lead with fear and love, which is in fact what Machiavelli suggests, is the best."

"It is true that love and fear combined make the best leader, but to find such a balance is near impossible. Tony is a lover not a fighter, and he is not a leader. He does not instill any fear in me. Describing him as Gibbs' St. Bernard is correct. Those dogs are large and capable of damage, but do they do damage, no. They might as well be a schnauzer. Tony may have some of the skills to be fierce, but in the end he is simply an adorable slobbering pup." She said this and took a long swig of her drink.

McGee could hardly stifle his laughter at that image. Ziva gazed at her watch reminding the two of them that they had limited time considering their boss' mood. Tim motioned at the waiter to pay for their bill, while Ziva hurriedly finished her sandwich.

**Soo… ;)**

**What didja think? I hope you enjoyed this beast of a chapter. I almost cut it in half, but I know that I am away soo you lucky guys got one uber long chapter (despite the fact that I could have gotten more reviews with two ;). Know that I love you all :D.**

**I did a bunch of research for the movie quotes, as I am not a big old movie fan. I hope you like; if anyone has any serious knowledge on this topic and spots a mistake, please let me know and I will fix it.**

**Much love, Kalvinanne**


	9. Chapter 9

**Heya guys, I am soo sorry about the extremely long wait, I know how you feel I'm a reader too, and waiting about a month for a new chapter is not cool at all. ****In my defense some stuff came up in my life that required a great deal of my attention. Then on top of that I spent the last week and a bit moving into my new apartment for school. A new apartment that did not have internet.**

**Question, anyone try and set up internet I swear I have the worst luck in the entire world. It took me forever to get a company to call back, I was hung up on and eventually I picked a different company and went in to talk to them. Then they sent my modem to the wrong address. Then when I finally tracked it down it didn't work. Yours truly spent legit two and a half hours on the phone with six different people who couldn't figure out what the heck was wrong. Let me just state that I despise technology! Soo much! I love my roommates to pieces, but how I ended up being the one handling all the technological stuff is way beyond me.**

**But I have a new chapter and I hope you enjoy and I also want you to know that I should be much more regular now, because despite having school and possibly two part time jobs I am not around my crazy hectic family (I am the eldest of six children) and thus do not have all the time constraints that I had back home.**

**Now, in response to all my reviewers, thank you soo much I can't believe how many people are taking the time to review. I love you all, though I shall not be responding to all the reviews anymore as there are a few too many (this is not a bad thing), but I will do my best to respond to any questions you might have :D And honestly reviews motivate me greatly, if I ever feel like giving up or I lack inspiration you guys remind me that I better keep it coming ;).**

**Also, in regard to my reviewers, I did have some pretty negative feedback on my last chapter. I apologize to anyone who did not enjoy it and I hope this next chapter does not disappoint. I did my best to deal with one thing, and that was that I got a comment or two stating that you guys felt the scene between Tim and Ziva was a little bit smooshed together, or rather it didn't seem to flow as nicely. Thing is I did add in that chapter at the last moment, and I can see where you are coming from, so I started up where I left off and I added some more to their scene, hopefully improving on my mistakes.**

**Enjoy,**

**Kalvinanne**

**NCIS is not my property, I just play with the characters.**

Ch 9

Awaiting the bill, Ziva relished the last two bites, swallowing them before leaning back in the semi comfortable chairs. Every seat in America had some kind of padded cushion, but that did not always mean they were comfortable. Often some kind of metal bar rested against your back, and while the designs were modern and clean cut, the seats were not always comfortable. They were deceptive in that way.

Tim would say that Israel was full of smoke and mirrors, but America is just the same, only the Americans hide their thoughts behind smiles. It was the same with these chairs she thought, arching her back in an attempt to get comfortable. At least in Israel you knew the chair was rough because it looked as such, often wooden, maybe a little crooked. Home was something she seldom dwelled on, although, she corrected herself, home was now here in America. These thoughts drifted through her mind as she continued allowing her thoughts to wander, an art she was quite good at, until finally Tim spoke up.

"Let's go, and please can I have the keys." She smirked but handed them over, deciding not to take his plea as an insult.

The two sat quietly in the vehicle as Tim maneuvered his way around the various cars, taking the fastest, but still safe, way back to headquarters. Neither seemed sure what to speak about.

Finally, Ziva spoke up, "It is good that we went out together Tim, I feel that we haven't really done something like this before." At that moment Ziva wished for Tony to be there to lighten the mood. The computer geek in front of her was good company, but she felt that much of their conversation usually revolved around Tony. Usually the two would plot to get Tony back at times for some of his pranks. At the workplace often they joked about Tony or with Tony. She didn't really know what to discuss.

"You're right Ziva. Soo…" He paused trying to think of something else to say, "Have you managed to get a hold of the neighbours next to the dead colonel's house and prove that they are actually on vacation?"

She shook her head woefully, "I am not looking forward to speaking to Gibbs about it either."

"That man is terrifying; I think I have the confidence to deal with a wild animal after handling him."

"True. He makes some of my co-workers back home look fairly innocent in comparison."

The two almost in sync quickly looked around as if Gibbs could pop out from behind their seats. Noting each other's look they smirked.

"He's everywhere." Said Tim in a movie voice reminiscent of Tony.

"You two grew very close while I was away, did you not?"

"It was a different team with only three guys. I worked with Tony 24/7. And yeah, I think we did grow closer. When he arranged your rescue," Here he stumbled over his words slightly, "he included me, and he treated me almost like an equal. Tony called me Tim all the time too." McGee appeared to think about that for a bit, failing to look to Ziva for a response. She stared at him watching the slight smile.

He shook his head a little and plodded on. "His humour was a little over the top, a little crazier; he also seemed to be lacking in sleep. We both dealt with your leaving differently. I wrote a lot of my book, and Tony seemed to party extra hard, at least that's what he said. Although, you never know how much of his stories are true or exaggeration."

"That is very true. He is quite the storyteller; sometimes I wonder what led him to choose law enforcement. Though I suppose all the people within NCIS are quite different; and on our team it is good to have differences. You, me Tony, each offer something that the others might lack, though Agent DiNozzo will no longer be part of our team." She looked out to the window avoiding Tim's searching look.

"It could seem a little like betrayal, his departure from our team that is." He said tentatively glancing at his partner again. "But you know that he is loyal to a fault. I know that he has always seen us as his family, and I don't know why he is leaving, but I know Tony and there has to be some kind of plausible explanation for this."

"But what Tim, what?" She whispered softly, questioningly. The ride remained silent until they arrived back at headquarters.

**αααααα αααααα**

Several blocks down Nala pulled out of the parking lot. Tony DiNozzo was such an enigma. He had looked perfect, arrogantly perfect when she first met him, but in the short time since that first meeting she had learned a lot. Who else had a clue about the real Tony, she wondered, and who were his friends? Family seemed to be a touchy subject, and given his past she felt that he probably did not keep in touch. Who cared for him? Nala hoped that this job change was good for him.

She was fairly curious about his co-workers; it had been eating away at her for some time. The woman thought about giving into her rebellious nature. A nature that had been present throughout almost all of her teen life until a bit before she met Scott. This side told her that she ought to go into his work building place and demand some answers, or maybe simply manoeuver her way into some answers. However, it had been a while before she embraced that side of herself. Nala was willing to bet that Tony wouldn't believe her if he heard about half the stunts she pulled. She was just too nice, that's what all her friends then had said too.

Nala knew her personality seemed full of contradictions, but her close friends could connect the dots between her actions and nature. The way they explained it was that overall she was a nice person, too nice in fact, but being nice does not mean that you aren't daring. And to be daring and nice is not a good combination. Nala ended up hanging out with an interesting crowd in high school, simply because she didn't think that they should be taken at face value. And sometimes she bucked the rules because they were quite frankly frankly, wrong.

The question was would these be stories she'd tell her daughters? She already felt like Tawnie was a tad rebellious. At least they finally had a role model of sorts besides herself, a male one. There was a lot to like about Tony and she was so glad to have some kind of decent male role model or father type figure in her daughters' lives. This was always something she worried about. The idea of trying to find a guy willing to take on her emotional issues along with two children was not possible or even an appealing option.

And then Tony showed up, he wasn't perfect, but he seemed to be a great guy, and she didn't have to marry him or date him or give him anything at all, except maybe some mothering, but that was her choice. It was unquestionably a miracle that he had come to care for her girls. Though, she definitely had some fears for him, she had in some ways it seemed taken him in like a stray dog. Nala had a feeling that his coworkers would not see their relationship as she did, but that only led her to question how the Italian and his coworkers ended up knowing each other as they did.

**αααααα αααααα**

Tony didn't wake up until four or five hours later. It took him a few minutes to adjust to his surroundings. He blearily looked for his Magnum PI alarm clock, instead finding some white and chrome one standing not so starkly against the pale green walls of the room he lay in. DiNozzo felt the crisp linens that were just as nice as his own, but different in appearance, beneath him. Right, he was at Jimmy's. They were purchased to match the room, knowing that Jimmy would appreciate such thought. The M.A. liked order and tidiness. Springing the money for some expensive sheets was worth Tony's time as he was the most common visitor to this bedroom.

The Italian sat up and rubbed his eyes. There were a few things that he needed to get done for tomorrow before he went out tonight, specifically making a list of possible questions for the interview. DiNozzo already had an idea of what he wanted to ask and didn't plan to over analyze this task. His motto was smarter not harder.

This conclusion was reached during his time at Rhode Island Military. Those teachers wanted a lot from a guy, and the only way to pull that off was to be smart. You couldn't waste your time and effort, they had to be utilized. He had finally made a catch phrase out of his practices, in University. Trying to pull off a job and maintain his athletic scholarship had required some smarts. A lot of it had to do with confidence, the more sure you are the more likely it is that you don't screw up. It also has to do with getting something right the first time, you do a good job once and then you don't have to do the same job three times.

Handing in his first report to Gibbs was one such example. He smirked remembering how awful that report was and then recalling the brief shocked look on Gibbs face after their next case. Tony wasn't going to waste his time resubmitting something, once he knew what the guy wanted Tony would provide it.

Gibbs…who knew what the guy wanted anymore, cause it didn't seem like Tony had been giving it to him for the last few years.

He rubbed his face wearily and finally got out of the bed. Slowly, he ambled down the hallway of the single floor apartment, passing Han and Jim's room and turning right into the big living room. Everything was fairly pastel, lots of clean lines, very much matching the medical assistant. Though, Hannah had added some hints of colour, in the kitchen and in their bedroom, wink wink nudge nudge. Where was he going? Right, the kitchen. DiNozzo continued past the couches and through the doorless frame which revealed his destination.

He smirked as he always did. Thankfully Jim had finally taken down the ugly hinges that had remained after Tony, in an idiotic move had kicked through the door in an attempt to prove to Jimmy that doors weren't actually that easy to kick down. Apparently Jimmy's was. Tony remembered the total horror he felt that was quickly eclipsed by Jim's complete breakdown. Imagining the goofy assistant clutching his sides, shaking from side to side in his seat laughing, got him every time. The two had left the hinges up for a month after the event because it was so funny.

Sometime later, when Tony mentioned that he was wondering when they would replace it, Jimmy had finally told Tony with false sorrow in his voice that "Me and Han vetoed the door, we feel that if the frame wasn't strong enough to keep the door from being kicked down then what good as it." Tony had responded just as despondently, "Too true, can't have a door that doesn't do its job." The two had shook their heads at each other with shame until Hannah had interrupted them with a mock exasperated voice saying something along the lines of: "Do you two really know what a door's job is, cause I'm pretty sure its sole purpose is to open, not stand firm against Tony's foot." That had led to even more laughter, and the door was never replaced.

Tony made his way through the empty frame and set to hunting through Jimmy's fridge. Knowing that Jimmy wouldn't mind if he used some of his food, he made a sandwich, feeling guilty nonetheless for eating his friend's stuff upon realizing he had the last of the bread and wishing he had thought to bring food. _Oh right, you don't really use your fridge to store edible things he thought to himself._

About an hour later Jimmy got home.

"Tony? You here? Of course you're here, I guess, I mean, hi. I'm home."

"Jim, you always bring a smile to my face." Was Tony's response from the TV room. He had been watching the news. Jimmy brightened at this, Tony never made him feel like a loser, despite his inane comments sometimes.

"I totally took some of your food, I will replace it though, so don't worry 'kay?"

"Tony."

"Ya, ya, I know you don't care, mi casa es su casa blah blah blah."

"Tony, how many times have you taken me out for food, or beer or something. We are totally equal. Besides that was Hannah's healthy bread." He said with an impish grin that Tony couldn't see.

Tony was totally swamped with regret at this statement; he stared at his stomach in dismay. "Oh man, I am so sorry, I will go out right now and get more, I'm sure there is a grocery store close by right, walking distance? Heck, it doesn't have to be walking distance." Jimmy walked into the room in time to see Tony get up from the couch and start pacing while googling on his phone. Tony looked up and saw Jimmy's expression of glee.

He calmed down immediately. "You ass."

"Ha, you're just mad that I am improving when it comes to pranking you, what is this, three wins for me?"

"Four." Responded the only slightly disgruntled Tony; he closed the app then put his phone back in his pocket. Next, he reached over and gave Jim a shove in the arm. For some reason it was okay for Jimmy to play a little on his insecurities, it made him less insecure and revealed the silliness of some of his quirks. But in the end, the reason it was okay was because the two were close friends. They didn't go overboard, and the jokes and tricks were balanced with serious moments and buffeted by trust. It's okay for your friends to make jokes at your expense because you know that they really don't mean it.

"Whohoo! So when are you going out tonight, how long do I have you?"

"Geez, you make me sound like a toy that's being shared."

"Yup, that's pretty much how it goes. But you're a well-liked toy, I mean at least you're getting passed around, you're not stuck in some toy box alone." Tony's eye-brows rose at Jimmy's awkward ramble, and his grin grew at the kids blushing cheeks.

"So what is that 56 for me now? And I didn't even have to do anything for this one."

"When did this game ever start T, cause I don't think I'd ever agree to a game where the goal is to make your opponent blush. Plus, I thought it was unspoken that the times I embarrass myself don't count."

"What you just said contradicted itself; Jim you're getting slow in your old age." Tony laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Old, me old? Whoah now, I haven't even finished school yet." He shook off his friend's hand good naturedly.

"That is no excuse and you know it, it takes like ten years to be a doctor, you are way old. Still, you have a pretty cute lady on your arm so…" He winked.

"Oh for goodness sakes Tony, are you actually going on about my schooling again, man you've been taking night classes since at least a year before I started working at NCIS, in the end I'm betting we'll have an equal amount of time spent in school." Jimmy had a gleeful look in his eye as he said this and arched his eye brow challengingly.

Jim had him there, not that he'd ever admit it. He narrowed his eyes. "I can accept that. What I don't understand is how I somehow went from winning this argument to losing it. What is the world coming to?"

"I think it's simply finally righting itself, you win way too many arguments, more than most people I know." By this time the two men had found comfort in the plush grey couches. Tony grabbed a pillow and stuck it behind his back, stretched his legs so that his feet rested below the table.

"True I am quite good at winning arguments. Anyway, I'm heading out at six thirty. Actually…I was hoping you might err…drop me off? I didn't take the car, too easy to trace." He said with a sheepish grin.

"You know that you won't be able to avoid them forever right?" Jim sent a concerned look to Tony.

"Yeah… but I'd like a bit of peace. And I'm thinking if I can piss them off enough they won't bother coming to my house next week and I'll be saved from any bloodshed. Don't want to kill anyone else. Besides, what am I supposed to tell them? You hurt my feelings and that's why I decided to leave. You don't respect me, and I don't know how to gain that respect?" Tony maintained a lighthearted tone. But his voice still seemed flat.

Jimmy continued to scrutinize his friend, staring fixedly at bitter green eyes. "I understand T, don't think I'm telling you I have a better solution. Honestly it just sucks and I guess I wish you could come up with something else. I'm sorry." The left side of his lip turned up ruefully. "Also, don't think I missed that quick line about murder, it was self defense, and you need to stop blaming yourself."

"Hey, no worries man, okay. I'm probably just taking out my stress on you. I'm sorry."

"You call that taking out stress, Tony, how is it that the small fairly physically weak Medical Assistant has to teach the tough manly cop how to actually take out stress? You didn't even sound angry."

Tony opened his mouth and shut it. The two smiled exchanging some silent message; and Jimmy went into his room to change into comfier clothes as was his usual habit.

"Anyhow, Hannah is coming over at around five thirty, six." He called from inside his room. "I figured you and I could play video games until she gets in?"

Tony laughed. It was funny, not too many people would peg him as a video games kinda guy, but he totally was, especially after meeting Jimmy. The guy just brought out his nerdy side. In some ways DiNozzo was a chameleon: he adapted to meet the situation and he was a jack of all trades. But that didn't mean that he always changed personalities. No, most of his frat buddies, the ones he was close to, knew about his nerdy side, and Jimmy knew about his macho side too.

Thing was in high school he was the bullied kid, not the bully like his ex-coworkers probably presumed. Tony knew the feelings of both sides, and he got along with both sides, it was probably what made him great undercover, he could adapt and he had numerous interests with which to bring into play. Though his macho side was the one he was most comfortable with. It was the side more easily accepted that's for sure.

DiNozzo went about setting up the controls, taking them out of the little seats whose dual function was to be both chair and container. Hannah brought those when she came. It wasn't that she didn't like video games. Rather, the girl was a tidy nut, so things were put away when they weren't in use. She was definitely a major nerd, and he was pretty sure that she was the quiet, shy, mousy type in high school, but, something happened that led to a change.

The petite blonde looked like a cheerleader, a total babe, but her personality was the same as it was in high school. She hadn't managed to truly gain the confidence she conveyed on the outside. Hannah was really pretty without the makeup and cute clothes, and Jimmy was working hard to convince her of that. Jimmy was lucky to have her and she to have him. Tony thought they were meant to be. Plus Jimmy was kinda really good looking when he took off the scrubs and glasses.

He pulled out a few of their favorite games waiting on Jimmy to make the final decision.

Sure enough within minutes the geeky assistant was back in comfy jeans and some kind of polo shirt. Those medical scrubs really did nothing for the guy. Tony was glad he picked a profession that did not require its employees to dress as ridiculously as doctors did. Though, being a doctor was attractive enough to some women that Jimmy had gained a small following at the office.

Oh well, not that Ziva would believe it, nor half the women at the office, but he had chosen the job he did for a lot of reasons and none of which had to do with the fact that he looked pretty great in both a police suit and a professional one. Okay, well it might have been a minor factor in the decision, but not the deciding one. He smirked.

"What are you smirking about Tony? That facial expression always spells trouble of some sort."

"Nahh, just laughing to myself." He glanced to see which game the two were going to play and nodded his agreement at the kid's choice. Tony was definitely in the mood to shoot something. It was clear to him that Tim would be shocked to hear that he was a bit of a gamer. Although, there was a gaming line that the Elf lord crossed and he most certainly did not. Still, the agent understood the need to do something you couldn't in the real world, like shoot a few bad guys.

He would prefer to go out and punch a bag or meet up with the guys from his martial arts class. But, that wouldn't do, not before going out to see the girls.

The sounds of the disc setting up broke into his thoughts. Jimmy was giving him that worried expression, so he snapped on a smile. This in turn got him that narrowed eye look the doctor got when he was diagnosing or slicing some poor soul apart. Tony quickly altered his lips into an innocent expression before settling into a more relaxed smile which reassured the slim physician in training. The two quickly turned their eyes to the screen and let the time pass by them.

**Once again, I hope you really enjoyed this chapter, and I apologize for the long wait in coming, I will do my best to be more regular about updates. Please continue to review, give me any constructive criticism. Also, one reviewer said that Tony has bested Gibbs in several fights. Now I know that verbally they have had spats and Tony has won, but I was referring more to a physical brawl. And to be honest I cannot recall any time before season seven in which that has ever happened. Soo I was kinda making that up, but if they have fought and I am wrong please do let me know what episode it was. Thanks :D**


	10. Chapter 10

**DGGN Chapter Ten**

**Hey guys, yeah, I feel like I should hand this to you guys via third person and cower somewhere far away. I apologize about the very long time in between chapters. I won't waste my time with excuses :(. But know that I do not plan on dropping this story anytime soon, even if I seem to drop off the planet.**

**That all said here you guys go (she hides behind the corner). Please enjoy, hope you are still interested in this story and I pray that I will get back to regular updates. Thank you to everybody for all the reviews-you guys are wonderful and encouraging!**

**Kalvinanne**

Time flew by and shortly after the game began Hannah arrived at the door. She let herself in and smirked at the sight of both grown men-eyes fixated on the screen.

"Hey," said Jimmy in a sweet, but distracted voice. She perched next to him on the arm of the couch and waited out the round. It finally came to a pause and Jimmy laid down the controller. Tony watched as he pulled her down to his side and gave her a quick kiss. They were just adorable and so shy with each other.

"Where's my hello kiss?" He asked playfully.

It was a sign of their closer friendship that she daringly leaned over Jim to kiss the top of his head. "There you go."

"That's better." He said, with a satisfied smirk, until Jimmy gave him a little shove.

"Come on Jimmy, you can't keep that beautiful woman to yourself."

"One day Tony you are going to learn that flattery can't get you everything." Hannah said with a smile that highlighted her features.

"Han, you are the only girl I know immune to my flattery, but I suppose with Jimmy here no other man really has a chance, eh." He smiled nudging Jimmy and laughing at the blush that spread across his features. Hannah smiled softly at him and they both turned into the lovey doves that they were. He was waiting for their eyes to turn into hearts in that goofy way that new couples had. They quickly pulled themselves together, Jimmy, turning to Tony and asking if he wanted to go another round before they headed over to Nala's.

"Ohh, that's right, this new girl. Soo Tony, I haven't gotten any descriptions about her. Actually, Jimmy here has gotten barely any information for me, despite my proddings."

"I should have known, all woman are the same wanting information about relationships. And well there isn't much to say. She has long black hair. She is about 5'6 and she isn't super skinny or super curvy. She's a mom."

"That account was just filled with information. I can definitely picture her. And that final descriptor-mom- brilliant."

"No need for snarkiness Han. Besides, what do you want from me?" Said Tony looking anywhere but at her knowing face.

"You know what I want. I want to know a little bit about this new lady in your life."

"You say that like she is a candidate for Mrs. DiNozzo."

"Those are your words not mine."

He simply turned up his eyebrows at that comment.

"Tony." She clasped his shoulder tugging on it while drawing out his name.

"Okay, Okay. She is very pretty, besides mom is a rather good description for her. She wears nice, but momish clothing, ya know. And she is more concerned about her children than her appearance. She is a nurse and she almost always has her hair up. But I am pretty sure that it is very long and would look lovely if she wore it down. I don't really know a lot about her yet. She puts up with me, and has good comebacks. She seems pretty tough, for a woman that is." This again drew another punch to his arm. "Ouch. You two need to stop with this whole punching Tony thing. I am not liking it at all."

"Well, maybe you should be a little bit nicer then." Hannah said shaking her blond hair from side to side.

"Me? Mean? What are you talking about?" He said rather pathetically.

"Don't you give me that puppy face." She said with little pity.

Jimmy smirked at Tony when he heard Hannah banter with him so effectively. "I think that Hannah is no longer susceptible to your charms."

"Jimmy, geez throw me a bone here. Technically it is two against one so I don't really have a chance. Though, I have successfully changed the subject. And oh look at the time, I think we need to go Jimmy." At that he promptly got up from the couch and began to head for the door.

The two stared at each other dumbfounded.

"That was mean Tony, very deceptive." Said Hannah as she attempted to give him a withering glare.

"We will get him back Hannah, don't you worry. Tony thinks he's a goat herder and that with a little nudge here and there he can control us, but just wait Tony. The goats have horns."

Tony turned to Jimmy and gave him a look of complete confusion. It quickly turned into laughter, which morphed into deep hiccupping breaths. He leaned up against the closet door, nearly stumbling over the shoes on the rack by his feet.

"Seriously Jimmy, that was the strangest metaphor I have ever heard."

"I heard it from Ducky once; he was pretty mad at some corpse. I've been wanting to use it for a while now."

"I should have known; something that weird couldn't have come from you." He continued to wipe tears from his eyes.

Hannah stared from one man to another and giggled a little bit. "Tony, pull yourself together it wasn't that funny. And Jimmy, please do not ever quote Dr. Mallard again."

'Ducky', Tony corrected in his head. Jimmy still hadn't brought his girlfriend to meet anyone, not even the medical examiner. He understood why, the kid didn't fully feel accepted by the team yet; he was nearly always awkward even around the Duck and in the end he simply felt self-conscious bringing Hannah to visit. He looked up from his musings to see that Hannah was pulling Jimmy up from the couch and pushing him towards Tony.

"Tony, I will get more information from you yet. Actually, Jimmy, it's up to you to fill in the blanks for me tonight when you get back." The blonde said with satisfaction written all over her face.

"Great Tony, now look what you've done. How can you leave this resting on my shoulders? We both know my Intel gathering skills are subpar."

"Sorry Jim, I buckled under the pressure."

"You don't look to sorry to me." Said Jimmy smiling. Jimmy frowned very easily at work, although usually it was when he was deep in thought or made some kind of verbal mistake. Tony liked making him smile more often, even in jest. He waited patiently as the ME assistant pulled on shoes and a coat, before grabbing the keys.

"Cya Han-" Was Tony's few words before opening the door and heading out on to the steps leading to the small nondescript grey car parked in their single driveway. He knew Jimmy was probably giving Hannah a kiss and would be out in a minute. He unlocked the car door with the keys. The key remote battery had died. Following this he turned on the car.

Shortly after Palmer ambled down the two steps and headed for the driver's seat.

**αααααα αααααα**

Tony watched as Jimmy walked out the door, waving a second time from down the street where he had parked. He smiled at the younger knew that Jimmy Palmer probably wasn't what they expected. Who would have thought he and Jim were best friends. But, few knew the real Tony, and those that did wouldn't be in any way surprised. He had a feeling that soon he would cease to surprise the girls and they would get to know some of the different sides of Tony. He kinda hoped it would happen. It wasn't like they were his peers and he needed to impress them, but his more dominant side stayed at the front almost without any action on his part.

The night was fun, he didn't fall asleep in the middle of their movie this time, and he didn't bring any chips, apparently they liked to have healthy movie nights too. He quirked an eyebrow the first time he had heard this, but went along anyways. He didn't bring anything this time, as they said they would provide. There were all kinds of veggies and hummus and some kind of dip. It wasn't too bad, he thought distastefully, now this kind of thing could really ruin his image.

The girls informed him that they were going to watch one old animated movie and one new every week until he had been totally updated. They watched some Chicken Little movie that was kinda funny and then they watched some movie about falling meatballs, or raining meatballs. Both were pretty amusing and he knew if he ever had kids he'd have a new collection of animated movies and he'd enjoy watching all of them. Unfortunately, tonight his mind was on other things, and he was distracted to his chagrin. After the first movie concluded he tried to shake himself out of it and make certain to focus on the girls. During their 'intermission' he decided to tell them about his new job.

"So guys, I was telling your mom here that as of yesterday I have a new job."

"What?" Two sets of shocked brown eyes met his.

"I'm not leaving or moving so don't worry, as if I could ever leave, I love you guys way too much." _Whoa, did the 'L' word just pop out?_ "But I am going to be a team leader with new teammates. Plus I have to hire a new guy too."

"Wow, good for you Tony. You'll make a great team leader. From what I've seen you are pretty good at taking care of people, and I mean a team leader sort of sounds like a fatherish kind of role." Was Tawnie's response. Inwardly his heart warmed at her innocent compliment.

"Yeah Tony, you take care of me and give me hugs. You are great at that." Said Kiera.

"Kiera, he can't hug adults, geez." Retorted Tawnie.

Kiera pouted at this statement.

Nala stepped in. "Kiera you are right, Tony is very good at comforting, and I'm sure that he will be a great leader too. He was telling me he needed a hand with welcoming the new guys and getting to know them and I think he is looking for your creative input." She said, adeptly comforting Kiera and changing the subject. Kiera was mollified and Tawnie distracted.

"What kind of welcome is it?" She said with a wink.

"Okay, so first off I'm thinking we need to have nicknames." He began excited, rubbing his hands together as if plotting something devious. "And they have to be good ones-ones that I can keep for a long time; that will stick. Plus, I want to have some kind of get together with all of them, but I wasn't really sure what to do for either of those. See at work we always call each other by our last names or agent and then last name and that is totally too formal. For example I used to call agent McGee, McGoogle." He said as if explaining a puzzle to a student. The girls had been sitting on his left. By this point Tawnie had moved to sit on the coffee table to get a better look at his face and Kiera had turned so that she was facing him from her new position, now sitting crossed-legged, on the couch. Both looked at him with their game faces on.

"I get what you're saying. What are their names?" Asked Tawnie.

"We have Samantha Alexa Brend, Shyama Reena Kandar, and Brad Jeremy Lee. Samantha is really tough, she was in the marines, and I think she might beat me at push ups."

"Ha, no one can beat you at those, we had a competition just the other day at kickboxing and you didn't even break a sweat by the time we had all given up." Said Tawnie with little girl pride.

"I don't know, you haven't met Samantha." Was his response.

"You could call her Alexa." Was Tawnie's first suggestion. "If she is really tough, either that, or Alexandra, though that would probably make her mad. There is this girl in my class who goes by Mike, instead of Michaela, cause she thinks it's too girly."

"Great idea, then I guess that's the first one down. Now Shyama, she is the youngest and she is really shy so I need to get her to open up. "

"Nala spoke up, "You could call Shyama, Shyamalon M. Night after the director. Shyama means night or cloud in Hindu. So it would be both amusing and witty." Tony was impressed by this quick suggestion. He quirked an eyebrow at Nala with a little bit of awe. She just shrugged her shoulders smiling.

"Geez guys you are good."

Kiera, he could see looked a little miffed and she was concentrating hard on coming up with the last name. Finally, it looked like a light bulb went off and she put up her hand. He smiled.

"Kier?"

"How bout Brad-Jeremy-Lee. You can call him all his names in one big long name."

"That's a funny idea. I bet he would be grumpy. Cause he is also really tough. Brad was in jail for a crime he didn't commit, but he got himself out, and he decided to become a cop, and he is the new guy I want to hire, so I don't know if he is for sure. But I bet that nickname would make him grumpy. Plus, I could also call him Bradley for short; that's two nicknames."

She grinned proud about her contribution to the conversation and all around he saw smiles of approval and satisfaction. Nala had even pulled her small sofa closer on his right side to get in on the mini pow wow.

"Now, for the party." Continued Tawnie. "You should invite them to your house, because that is a really welcoming thing to do, rather than just go out to dinner. And you should play board games, no movies. Movies are fun, but then you'd have to pick out a movie that everyone would like. Plus the games would be better for conversation. We have a bunch of fun games at our house, like Kadoo. And you guys could all bring a snack contribution of some sort so that everyone feels like they have a part." He could tell Nala was proud of her daughter's ideas.

And Kiera was nodding excitedly. "I like board games, they're fun."

"Well I feel like you guys totally covered everything for me. Thanks. What would I do without you three?" He said with a grin, happy about their group conclusions. He pulled Kiera close and gave her a silly head noogie that had her glaring at him and smoothing down her mussed locks. He turned to Tawnie and she put up an arm in defence, protecting her hair. He turned to Nala and she simply stared him down.

"Soo, let's put in the next movie?"

**αααααα αααααα**

The night passed right by with lots of jokes and fun. It was just what he needed before tomorrow's awkward possible encounter if he failed to avoid them while doing the interview. He planned to go in five minutes before the interview and wait in the room. No one but him, Vance and Lee knew about the proposed meeting.

**αααααα αααααα**

Tony sat in the waiting room staring at everything but the windows that looked out into the hallway. Instead, he stared at the beige walls and the lame floral frames with little blue and pink flowers. He glared at the dirty overly vacuumed grey-blue floor. That's just gross, no carpet should be left to last that long.

The bus he chose gave him very little time in the building before the interview and that was the way he wanted it. He had quietly taken back stairs and a few crowded hallways, smiling at those he saw and ducking his head at some knowing smiles and thumbs up. Yes some were glad to hear about his promotion, but he knew the gossip had spread fast. There were probably bets about the face-to-face conflict he was headed for with his teammates. Fortunately, Tony hadn't seen Team Gibbs once since his arrival. Thank God.

He heard steps, point one to Bradley (yep he already thought of him as Bradley, didn't want to refer to him as Lee) for showing up a bit early. He would wait until the clock hit eleven fifteen before he went out there though. Let him relax and get himself mentally ready.

Five minutes later he went out and opened the door wide, smiling at the man who stood to his feet and held out a hand.

"Agent Brad Lee?" he inquired. He took in the man's appearance. He gave off a tough appearance despite the medium length messy black hair and clean shaven face. He was decently tall, about 5'7 or 5'8, though he would be shorter than Sam. He had a stocky build, strong muscles and strong jawline. This same jaw split into a fairly wide friendly smile.

"Yes Sir, Agent Anthony DiNozzo?" He watched as the young man took a few moments to mimic Tony's actions by studying him.

"You got it, come on in, take a seat right there." He said pointing to the seat across from his.

DiNozzo made small talk initially, simply getting Brad to open up to him and basically just confirming what he already knew. But he probed a little wanting to know who he was as a person, not an applicant. Tony finally decided to shoot the eight ball.

"So, you haven't got any interviews besides mine and you've been out of the NCIS base training school, what, two months? What's your take on that?" He could see that he had startled or confounded the guy. Everything had been yes sir, in typical polite Asian fashion. It may be wrong of him to think that, but in the end it was a compliment; they raised respectful kids.

"Well sir, excuse my saying this, but my best estimation is that the agency is worried that I am a dangerous card to play and have amongst them. They may be concerned that I have ulterior motives."

"And how do you feel about that? I mean technically the law screwed you over initially by sticking you in jail, and here you are basically handing yourself over to the idiots that did that and they still reject you? I feel angry on your behalf." Said Tony lightly but with a bit of serious anger.

"My wife is furious, and well, sometimes I feel really angry if you want honesty. But, I got myself out of jail, and well, I want to be in law enforcement and prevent this kind of bureaucratic crap from happening. So I will make it happen, I believe it Sir." He noticed a tightening in Brad's shoulders and guessed that his fists clenched and unclenched under the table. Tony also glimpsed a look of fury, really it could be labelled a death glare, but it was eclipsed by a look of determination.

So the guy had some internal anger issues, Tony was pretty sure that he would always keep his cool externally. He was not worried, especially with Lee's gang experience and jail, anyone in either business especially in the that world knew that you had a mask in place at all times. It was funny, usually he would be the type to tell someone to cut the 'sir' crap, but with Brad it wasn't about fear, it was about respect and Tony could appreciate that. In the future he would definitely tell Brad to call him Tony, time and again, but for now he let it rest and didn't take offense to a title that he held negative connotations with. He broke out of his thoughts and asked another question.

"Why do you think that you would be an asset to NCIS?" The man was almost a certain shoe in, all he needed was to spend a bit more time chatting with him and really getting a deeper understanding of what made Brad Lee, Brad Lee outside of his credentials and time in jail. He was debating attempting to piss the guy off and see how cool he would remain. But he also didn't really want to go down that road, because if and most likely when he hired him, that kind of crappy manoeuver might lead to distrust.

Lee looked straight at him and made eye contact with confidence. "I feel that I bring a lot to the table. In the first place I bring a distinctive angle because I myself ran in the gangs. That also provides me with contacts. Next, I spent time in jail, again giving me a unique perspective and providing me with additional contacts, and finally, I studied to become a lawyer so I have a great deal of knowledge concerning the legal aspects of a case. That will definitely benefit a team. I am physically capable due not only to my experience on the streets, but also after training to become an agent. I am sure that you have seen my scores, I am more than capable in every field."

"All of those are very valid points and certainly drew me to your file. I notice that you had a verbal argument with one of your teachers. Why is that, did those circumstances justify your actions or were you acting out?"

"I do not believe that any circumstance was justified, as a cop I should keep my cool at all times. I'm sure that you can understand given my past that I faced a good deal of hazing; I slipped up once and let it get to me. But you can be sure that won't happen again." He said seriously.

"Okay, I respect that." Internally he thought to himself that he would not have to defend himself again, as he would have a team behind him. Tony spent the next half an hour asking questions and getting more of a feel, making certain that he was truly an honest guy, and verifying that he was joining the agency for the right reasons.

They ended peaceably, shook hands and Tony told the agent to be that he would call him to let him know whether he was hired or not by Sunday evening. Tony couldn't wait to hire him, almost wishing he could give him the go ahead immediately. Instead he sent him out and literally took two minutes to get his stuff together before trying to flee the building rather than meet up with his team, but no such luck. He was about four steps down the hall before they had him cornered, all of them, literally- Timmy, Ziva, Gibbs and Abby.


	11. Chapter 11

**Hey Guys,**

**So I know it has been a little bit of a while, but it has been much shorter then the last break between chapters, so hopefully I am not hated too much. Plus as usual its a pretty long chapter :D! I hope that makes up for the wait. Also, it is summer and I really hope to be able to update more often. (That is not a promise...cause you never know what happens, but... fingers crossed :) ). **

_Aside: A couple people noticed my blunder with Jimmy's girlfriend! I'm sorry! Her name is Hannah, I kept on accidentally calling her Brina because I knew of her from the show, but I didn't know the character very well (Clearly, I can't even spell her name right) so I changed the name so as to make a completely new character. I went back and hopefully caught any mistakes with the name. Let me know if I mix it up again! :O_

**I really love this story and I don't plan on letting it go no matter the length.**

**Also THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to all of the wonderful reviewers. You honestly make my day every time I get a comment. I love knowing that you guys still like my story and hearing anything that makes you laugh or any other feeling. I debated listing a whole bunch of names to show how I notice all my faithful readers and new readers, but I worry about accidentally leaving someone out. Still, know I read all of them and they inspire me to keep writing.**

**THANK YOU to my beta reader Mike91848! He has stuck around despite my long breaks in writing and always corrects and fixes my blunders making my writing much more readable ;). He is also a great encouragement :D**

**And on to the next chapter : )**

Tony literally just stared. Inside he kind of shut down a little. He wasn't necessarily that great at conflict. Sure he could handle conflict that came with work, for example taking down a rowdy suspect, defusing a bitter scene between divorced couples. Well, except for those three crazy ex-wives who fought with each other-that was just gold and he couldn't break that up-besides women fighting each other were particularly bloodthirsty. Back to the scene at hand. They still hadn't said a word, what did they want from him? Were they looking for excuses? That was not going to happen. He wasn't going to laugh this off, what exactly he would do was not exactly clear in his mind. He had always been pretty good at thinking on his feet.

This situation had smacked him upside the head so here he was facing it. He wasn't going to try and explain himself. He hadn't worked out how to talk to any of them. In fact he had been procrastinating in regards to fixing things with his ex-team. The same reasons as to why he never complained to them stood for why he wouldn't explain his leaving. The two reasons were one and the same. Tony couldn't say, "Hey, you hurt my feelings and I felt underappreciated." Carefully, he tried not to avoid eye contact with them; he didn't want to be that shy, embarrassed kid picking at their sleeve cuff. He found himself staring at Gibbs, lacking any expression. There was no bold determined look, because he simply did not feel confident. Beyond that look, the jokester was off limits, so was the schmoozer, as was the friendly grin. DiNozzo did not have too many faces to choose from, not without words to go alongside them.

When he didn't speak they all started in at once. He paid some attention to them but instead found himself focusing on their faces, watching their mouths move.

Abby was a ball of rage. Her head shook from side to side, dark ponytails whipping back and forth in her anger. The spiked dog collar she wore even shifted slightly. Her ruby red mouth drew into a pout and then drew back into a glare. From all this he caught a few phrases.

"Tony, how could you, what is wrong with you, why are you leaving this team, are you an idiot. I don't get it, how can you leave Gibbs, how…

"And why didn't you tell anyone, we are your friends. And you just ditch and get Vance to tell us all, I am so pissed off at you…

"I don't even know how you will make this up to me…

He turned back to his thoughts. Tony wasn't surprised by her anger or her defense of Gibbs. It simply validated his decision to keep her out of the loop. That and the fact that she was totally oblivious to the hurt he had been experiencing for months now. A friend would notice that.

Somehow they had shifted to a new speaker while he zoned out. Abby had her hands wrapped around her waist and she was tapping her foot frantically while she glared at him. It was Tim's turn now, it seemed. What were they going by, order of weakest to strongest? Okay, that was kind of harsh. He rubbed his eyes wearily and tried to listen to what they had to say.

"There you go again, Tony, acting immature? What is going on? I don't understand any of this. Was it some kind of way to get a response, to set yourself up as the center of attention? You should be embarrassed, you realize you are a grown man right? Your decisions affect more than you, they affect our team by just getting up and leaving; they also affect the team you plan to run. You aren't at some stupid frat boy party, trying to prove that you can drink the most booze…"

Screw him! Tim never did see past that frat boy image, he never figured out that Tony didn't do stupid things just to get the center of attention all the time. Often times he was simply trying to lighten the mood. And maybe Tony liked to be noticed sometimes and sure he could see it as a problem. But as his so called friend maybe they should cut their "partner" a bit of slack. They certainly hadn't clued in to the fact that maybe Tony wanted to be noticed because his entire childhood consisted of being ignored or receiving negative attention. And to assert that his decision would hurt his team! Small stirrings of fury, like that of a volcano pre eruption were rising. Focus on something else, he told himself.

Tim, unlike Abby remained mostly still while he reprimanded his former senior agent. The faded hazel eyes were filled with emotions, while the rest of his body was straight as the award filled frames on the younger agent's bedroom walls. Although, near the end of that speech he began to gesture with his hands in a frantic way that was reminiscent of the Goth. Tony smirked a little at that, but continued to mostly ignore the words that came out of his mouth. He focused on the way his mouth moved open and shut and the little squinty lines that appeared near his eyebrows.

Eventually, Tim seemed to take in a deep breath and Ziva zeroed in on him for the kill. He wished he could take back the smirk he knew crossed his face at times during McGee's rant.

The ex-Mossad agent began to close the small space between them and he drew back only to hit the door. Tony hadn't had much space to begin with. When he opened the door they were already invading his personal space. He had closed the door behind him and backed up closer to the wall to give himself some space. Originally there was about three feet's space. But she was closing that space rapidly.

She drew in close. "Everything's a joke to you, Tony, isn't it," she whispered with cold fury.

"Do you really think that you are capable of being a leader, I mean look at how things ended up when you were in charge before, you screwed up and sent that guy to jail. I can count on my fingers the many times that you have made mistakes, and you want to be in charge of a team." She whispered this, and he wondered if anyone else caught her words, or if they just noticed the way he stiffened. It was as though she thought she was being helpful. Her "truths" really hurt, the words sent daggers through him, feeling much as if she were actually torturing him with her sleek blades.

As if he didn't already have enough self-confidence issues? He should have known that something like that was coming. Agent David had never seen that he was capable and he was pretty sure that if she ever clued in she would feel both impressed with him and embarrassed at her own failure to see past his mask. "Pretty sure" were the key words, as it was quite possible she would still count his many mistakes against him. Well, he didn't plan on letting her in anytime soon, so she probably would never see him as successful or capable. That was fine.

Suddenly, he felt a hand grip his shoulder and he fought back a shudder at the sudden physical contact. His emotions yo-yoed back and forth and his eyes returned to the present scene.

"Are you even listening to a word I've said?" asked the Mossad agent, brown eyes flashing.

He attempted to brush her insightful question off with a slow smile.

"DiNozzo!" barked the gruff voice of his boss-ex boss. He successfully ignored the urge to stand at attention, holding himself in a slouch almost painfully. Gibbs did not look impressed. He almost wondered if the guy would say a word.

"You didn't think that your team should have known about this before the Director?" Under this one sentence he could hear other questions. _How long have you worked with me? You didn't feel the need to extend that small courtesy?_ Gibbs managed to sound enraged despite the quiet tenor. He drew in closer, as Ziva did and scathingly continued to speak

"You changed your numbers and moved out of the house for the night? I didn't raise a coward."

"You didn't raise me, Gibbs," he spit out furiously, but in an undertone.

Gibbs eye brows furrowed and he backed up with a look that said there was more to this conversation.

It did not surprise him that Gibbs had managed to make it personal without expanding on anything. Every sentence carried so much more, derision, embarrassment, fury and mockery. The little barbs were meant just for him and they hit their target. The coward comment made him feel like he couldn't breathe. It was like being back in that blue room sure that he was going to die. Tony resisted the urge to claw at his throat and tried to focus on just breathing. This was ridiculous. He was a grown man, who ever heard of someone having a panic attack while arguing calmly with one's boss.

As Gibbs backed up, giving him a bit more personal space he took a deep breath and straightened his back. Some kind of response was needed. When he finished he would leave and try and convince himself that continuing to work in DC was the right decision.

"None of you really know me, otherwise you wouldn't have said the hurtful things you just spewed out at me. And you wouldn't question my decision to leave. I'm sorry but I really don't think you would understand my answers to your questions so I am not attempting that." He spoke slowly, deliberately. There was silence apart from the tapping of Abby's foot.

He continued, "Rather than try and hash things out I think it would be best to leave as is. I apologize for the abruptness, and you are right the situation was handled poorly but I did not feel that any other option would be sufficient in this scenario. I wish you all the best and I hope your team is successful." He looked at them seriously as he spoke, but he failed to make eye contact focusing on grey suit jackets, pale and tanned jaws. Then, quietly, he turned around and walked away leaving a startled group behind him. None said a word for some time.

**αααααα αααααα**

That went badly, really really badly, thought Gibbs.

Moments passed and silence filled the corridor. Abby stared after her friend with a hurt look, as if someone had insulted her science equipment- her "babies", he thought dryly. Tim's head was down, and Ziva stared as if trying to solve a puzzle. Out loud Ziva dared to speak first, as he knew she would.

"That was unexpected. It did not seem like Tony at all. He avoided the attention and did not give us a single answer."

"You're right, Ziva. That was not the Tony I know, he looked serious and hurt," responded Tim hesitantly.

"What does he mean we don't know him?" said Abby indignantly. "What does he mean that I don't know him? I know him better than anyone in this building I think. What don't we know, and I mean clearly we don't know, because if we knew, well then we would know, right?" Gibbs muddled his way through her words grasping her point.

"Abby. Calm down. And yes, it appears that we don't know."

All three looked to Gibbs expectantly for some kind of explanation. And he realized that without Tony things would never be the same, DiNozzo would never have looked to him to fix things, never. Certainly, the agent failed at times to have the answers to the problems they faced, but DiNozzo was a problem solver. He would have looked at Gibbs to collaborate, to work together, with determination to find a solution.

The problem was that, Gibbs didn't know how to solve this, plus he was also kind of pissed off. He had meant what he said to Tony in part. What kind of ridiculous stunt was he pulling? If Tony was still a kid he would have told him to go to his room and think about what he'd done. But Tony wasn't a kid, wasn't his kid and well there went his only possible solution.

Marines didn't talk about their problems, they dealt with them privately and well that was what Tony was doing. He wasn't a marine but he sure as hell acted like one. If Tony was willing to leave his team there was a lot under the surface going wrong. Oddly enough, the kid chose to stay here; he didn't officially run away. To Gibbs' knowledge Tony had no other ties than his teammates, which he had just completely cut off. The issue was puzzling to him and he did not know if he wanted to deal with this alone or with his team. He would need time to think about this. Out loud he didn't make things any clearer than he had in his head.

"Well team, he will be here every day. For now we need to get back to work." And at that blunt statement they broke apart, each returning to their respective jobs wondering what the hell just happened. No one argued with Gibbs, because they didn't know what to argue.

**αααααα αααααα**

McGee was surprised by the situation, in particular by the seriousness of Tony. More than surprised, he was also worried. Tony was his friend, scratch that, had _been_ his friend? Unlike Abby he wasn't mad; instead he was confused and kinda worried. He wasn't the type to hold grudges or hang on to his anger like the other members of his team. So he had skipped over the angry part and gone right to the worried stage. Was he the only one who began to wonder what he had done wrong? And what on earth had they done to make the happy go lucky Tony angry. He knew now that this wasn't some joke, so that meant Tony was upset, their Tony was upset, maybe angry. A cold feeling rose up in his stomach.

Tim stared, but didn't see anything. He tried to focus himself, staring first at Ziva. She sat at her desk and glared at him the second she caught his look. That woman had all senses on high alert, an eagle zeroing in on its next meal. McGee hid from the disdain that he knew was next on her face: this prey wasn't worth her time. Carefully he kept his eyes down, only glancing up when he heard the sound of her slightly squeaky chair move and her soft strides toward the bathroom. He knew she was going a little crazy sitting at the desk. They were all fighting to maintain their composure, except for Gibbs. Although, actually he would wager that Gibbs may actually be distraught about this whole situation-or at least as distraught as a marine is. Tony-Agent DiNozzo-was his right hand man. Slowly, in an attempt at casualness, Tim leaned as far back as the small back swivel chair would allow looking towards Ziva's identical, but empty, black chair. All of the cubicles in this area-even the empty one that used to house Tim's personal items and necessary office materials-looked pretty much the same.

They each had the same nondescript greyish walls that separated them from the rest of the teams and housed a few tacks with notices and important numbers. Each had a similar black chair, although Gibbs' was not black, in fact Gibbs had a brown old school nearly puke coloured chair that looked much comfier despite its lack of elegance or mainstream appeal. Each had a computer, although again Gibbs' had some kind of dinosaur thing that didn't deserve to sit at an agent's desk given the technological era they live in.

He wondered what DiNozzo's team area looked like. Were all the cubicles the same? Had he met the team yet, and had he moved in? What about being team leader, the idea terrified Tim when he really thought about it. Team leader was synonymous with Leroy Jethro Gibbs and the techie did not see him filling those iron toed shoes just yet.

Before he heard a sound, he felt a dark presence entering the room, recognizing the fiery brunette partner he nearly snapped his neck straightening the chair. Mentally he berated himself, what kind of senior agent was afraid of their co-worker. Left with his doubts he tried to focus once more on the task.

**αααααα αααααα**

The weekend seemed to fly by quickly. Tony stayed at Jimmy's and really enjoyed himself. His time was spent with Jimmy and Hannah just chilling and enjoying their company. The new team lead spent some alone time with Jimmy and told him about the awkward encounter. Jimmy told him to ignore Ziva's words and his encouragement went a long way towards rebuilding Tony's confidence. He reminded him matter of factly and logically that Director Vance, his enemy in so many words had thought him more than capable of leading and that should be good enough for him. Tony was reminded that Ziva was totally clueless about his abilities and that that was another sign of his impressiveness. It was a good break, but of course that all ended by Sunday evening when he returned to his own home. One perk was that he got the opportunity to phone up Brad Lee and congratulate him on making the team.

Tony leaned back in the comfy sofa chair, thinking in the heavy silence that filled his apartment. No television on meant that there was utter silence, as he was the sole inhabitant. He was alone with his thoughts.

Bradley had been ecstatic. Tony knew that the young agent was aware that just because he received an interview it didn't mean that he would get the job. In fact he had probably prepared himself for rejection.

It was funny to listen over the phone. Bradley had remained composed. He had thanked Tony emphatically and assured him that he would definitely be ready for Monday. He assumed that he had made motions to his wife because he could hear a little squeal of excitement in the background that was also quickly suppressed. Tony grinned, he had made the right decision he knew it. He was still apprehensive of running into his old team, but that was also kind of replaced with his excitement for running his own team. This would be good, at least that is what Jimmy and Hanna and Nala and Tawnie and Kiera all said. And well, when he was overwhelmed by such a majority he knew it had to be right.

Softly smiling he pulled himself off the chair and ambled his way down the hall towards his bedroom. His fingers ran across the beige walls running into a small hole now and again, he had let his house go a bit in the past few years. It still looked great, but it needed upkeep as all things did, and he hadn't done so. Maybe he would get around to filling some of those holes, maybe paint a new coat. Give it some new life. With those final thoughts he made it to his room and got ready for sleep.

**αααααα αααααα**

Monday morning…

Tony had arrived and found a comfortable listening spot. The new team lead was waiting to see how early his new coworkers would get there, if early at all. The building was still fairly quiet and he nodded a few times to various people, smiling with embarrassment as he got a few thumbs up and pats on the back. He wondered what the scuttlebutt was here. Jimmy couldn't be expected to fill him in there, the man did not pay attention nor was he included in, the gossip.

Gossip was an important part of research in his opinion, thus the early arrival and his hidden location. Each of his team members was expected at 7:30 a.m. and he wanted to listen in on their opinion of him, get a take on what he was up against when it came to their presuppositions. All three arrived at approximately the same time, 7:00 a.m. DiNozzo had already called the other two team members to inform them personally that he would be their leader, although he knew Vance had also informed them. He had also told them that he planned to hire Bradley, and informed them that usually he would work together with the team to pick a new member, but he felt in this case it was best to simply hire someone quickly, rather than go through the awkward getting used to someone new twice in a row.

DiNozzo remembered reading about some Queen who decided to have her teeth pulled while she was giving birth to a child because she figured it would be best to hit two birds with one stone. He saw parallels in her situation and his. The Italian had explained this to them and hoped that they did not feel upset about the scenario despite their verbal reassurances that this was not a problem.

Everything was happening so fast, and he felt bad that the team did not have the time to really adjust, but that was life. It happened fast and you didn't often have time to figure it out before it was happening. Quieting his thoughts, he listened as the trio made their introductions.

"Hi, I am Samantha Brend, you must be agent Brad Lee. I was the Senior Field Agent on the team, and I believe that will stay the same. Although, of course you never know; things can always change. I would like to welcome you to our team. We are certainly glad to have a third member, Shyama and I have been part of a team short a member for some time. It will be good to be a full team again." Tony couldn't see anything, but imagined Sam stood up and shook the new man's hand with a firm grasp. The tall blonde was confident and eager to get down to business.

"Yes, I'm Shyama Kandar, and I fully concur with Sam's statement, it will be good to be a full team." Shyama's voice was soft and melodious and it contrasted with her sharp style of speech.

"That's right, I prefer to be called Sam, not Samantha, or just Brend." Interrupted Sam with a grin he assumed.

"Nice to meet you both, Shyama, Sam. I'm really happy to be part of a team. I am also up for being a probie, but I want you guys to know that I definitely have a great deal of experience. Did Tony give you a run down on me, or an explanation of my skills?" Tony smirked to himself, clearly Brad was as confident as the blonde senior agent and wished them to be clear about this.

"No, Agent DiNozzo did not, he said that we could talk as a team today and share a bit about ourselves then. He said that everybody had the right to share what they wanted to share," stated Sam. Tony wondered to himself if that was a good thing in her mind. It was hard to tell, for the oldest female agent remained even toned throughout most of what she had to say. He was beginning to wonder how many masks this new team had on.

"Huh. Well, that's interesting. I guess we should wait until he arrives to do any sharing, otherwise it will just be a repeat in about a half hour. Agent DiNozzo told me on the phone that he was your new leader. And I just wanted to pass on my condolences for the loss of your previous leader. I am sorry to hear about the loss of an agent."

"Thank you."

"Thanks."

"So what do you know about Tony, he's worked here for years, right?" questioned Brad.

Sam spoke up first, after a short pause during which Tony assumed the two women exchanged looks. Tony was almost a bit worried, now that he was actually getting to the information he was most curious about. Maybe he shouldn't have waded into this particular scene. It was too late though, as Sam began to speak tentatively almost. The woman had tact clearly.

"To be honest, we don't know a lot about him. Much of it is speculation. Teams do not regularly interconnect, because we are all usually busy working out butts off. The thing is you kind of walked in on a bit of a drama. It's only right to let you know, though I am not a big one for gossip."

Anthony DiNozzo has been the SFA on his team for over seven years. His team is kind of renowned around here for their excellent closing rate due in great part to the scary as crap team leader Agent Gibbs. Gibbs is an extremely hard worker, previous marine, and scares away new recruits like nobody's business. However, he and Tony have been partners for years and DiNozzo is probably the only agent I know who stands up to him regularly and pisses him off purposefully."

Beyond all this, everyone was totally shocked to hear that he was leaving to lead his own team. He was a leader for a brief time while Gibbs was on sick leave and their closing rate remained the same so I believe that he will be effective as a leader. The thing is that despite their assumed friendship Tony didn't tell anyone on his team that he had received a promotion. It was really awkward and they made a scene. His team seemed to doubt that he could be a leader. Although, Vance backed up his decision, weirdly enough." She paused here, almost in thought herself. Tony winced at this, hearing those words brought up several possible scenarios for how that scene played out.

Here Shyama butt in, giving Sam a breather. "I'm sure you're wondering why that is the weird part. Tony has a bit of a reputation around here for being immature: a fool, a frat boy. He is known as an old school cop, and our Director is focused on the future, technology and new recruits. Thus, the fact that he backed up Tony is plain odd." The Italian wondered at the facial expressions that he couldn't see. It was hard because he hadn't heard a word yet from Brad.

"Either way, we don't really know what we are getting into. Vance approves, so if Tony won him over well again I think he will be a good leader." Cut in Sam.

"But, I'm sure you guys are both really curious about what led to his leaving the team he had been on for seven years, am I right?" Responded Brad. "So what do you actually know about him, have you never spoken before this week? Believe me, I am not one to judge based on appearances or rumours." Tony smirked, yep, Brad and Sam were both persistent.

"Neither are we." Stated Sam calmly. "And from what I know he can be a little bit immature; he does like to pull pranks. He is also very friendly and kind. DiNozzo knows everyone's name and I mean everyone down to the doormen that work here. He pays attention to the little things and he is never disrespectful to people in the building. One could say he does this for the ladies, and he always says that he is going out on dates, but I have never seen any women come here. Usually these things are said in a joking manner, so I don't think that he is really sexist. Besides, his flirtation is never serious or crude."

"I don't think he ever means any harm. Once I overheard him asking about some of the doormen's kids. Agent DiNozzo always seems to know when someone has lost a family member. He seems to really care, but it is never like he is showing off and it is usually somewhere quiet, the only reason I know is because, well I like to be in quiet places to think, so I often end up overhearing things like that. I think he is nice." Tony sensed that it was quite the speech coming from Shyama for she finished with a huff.

"Plus, there was that one time. He ran an undercover job alongside leading the team here and no one on his team even knew about it until the director thought he died and told them so. I think he has many sides," piped in Sam as an afterthought. Tony wondered how slow she was to trust and how her opinion of him altered that for good or for bad.

"Well, it sounds like we are in good hands overall. DiNozzo sounds pretty dependable, and he hired me, so I know that means he looks below the surface. I have to say that I for one feel good about this as well. He may be a little unorthodox, but if that gets the case solved, well I'm okay with that," responded Brad.

Tony nodded to himself. Shyama's input was quite interesting and made him smile a little. He was glad to hear that they didn't hate him and thought he could be good as their leader. The brunette was glad that the team were analyzing him and he hoped to impress them. It was about 7:25 a.m. give or take a bit and he figured it was time to make his entrance, no need to let them know he was listening in. With that, he took a back way, returned to the front and walked in.

**:D I hope you enjoyed, as usual can't wait to hear what you have to say and concrit is welcome (try to be nice about it, I break easy). Let me know if there is anything you want it might work itself in...Sorry to those who want this to speed up, I like to really play with the characters and draw things out. : / **

**Much Love Kalvinanne **


	12. Chapter 12

**HIYA!**

**Wow, honestly the reviews I received for the last chapter were just amazing and really encouraging. Thank you guys for taking the time to leave some lengthier reviews. I appreciate every review, but I love getting thorough feedback, especially considering the last chapter had such an important scene. **

**I am happily posting a new chapter, much more quickly then before. :)**

**Hope you continue to enjoy hearing more about Team DiNozzo ;)**

**Also, one reviewer was wondering if there will be a case and yes there will be and its coming up pretty soon :).**

**Side note...IRONMAN 3 is out! (RDJ 3) **

**Kalvinanne**

Tony walked in, confident, but lacking any silly strut. He didn't want to change for this new team. That simply was not part of his plan, but at the same time he knew that there was a time and place for silliness and this didn't seem like the time.

"Hey, guys, I see you have already introduced yourselves." He smiled warmly gazing at the three people who had apparently stayed standing during their entire conversation, for each one stood uncomfortably still near their desk. Clearly things were a little bit awkward. No one sat at ease and his arrival added to the stale air.

"Sir," said Brad with an extended hand, holding himself immediately at attention. The suit was older, but pressed perfectly. Tony was glad to see the care he afforded his appearance.

Brend quickly followed with the greeting, "Boss". He took in the dress pants and simple grey blouse. Despite the formality of the outfit, he could see it was chosen for comfort. The pants had give for running and the shirt was made of a softer more expensive material.

Shyama came in last copying her teammate with a "Boss" and outstretched hand. Her appearance mimicked Sam's: comfort and leaning towards the expensive side. Furthermore, she wore something that flattered her, adding more curves to a slim frame, while highlighting her waist. The Italian was surprised that she had yet to find a beau.

"Hi, everyone. Welcome, Agent Lee. Let's get ourselves comfortable, no need to stand around. Brad, did you want this desk or the other one?" The new team lead motioned to the clearly empty desks. All four were identical in shape and size, so it wasn't much of a choice. Of course the two female agents had made themselves at home at their desk. Although on second thought there really weren't a lot of personal homey items on either one. The basic needs, computer, mouse and mouse pad, papers, binders for paperwork and mail, a couple tacks on their backboards. They probably imitated their superior who may have lacked personal items. Not only was that totally boring, it also meant he had no hint at their personality.

Brad gestured to the area across from Brend, "My bin of items is already here on the desk, so I will just go ahead and take this one." The brunette watched as Brad quickly glanced at the two filled desks, probably getting an idea for any necessary items.

Turning around Tony grabbed the bin of items left behind the partition wall when he got in this morning and carried it over to the remaining desk. Quickly, he began to unpack and continued to speak.

"I mentioned to Brad that I wanted to get to know each of you from your perspective, rather than basing my opinions solely on observation or your files. So to start off let's take a bit of time right now to share about ourselves." Pausing he carefully lifted a baby cactus out. It was a gift from the girls. Even looking at it made his lips turn up as he attempted not to laugh. It had appeared on his doorstop with a short note early that morning before he left for work. The note said, _Dear Tony, this is George. He does not need a lot of care and is very hard to kill. This is an "office" warming gift to say congrats on your new job! Tawnie, Kiera & Nala. _There was even a little sticker on the pot with the name tag filled in.

The older man made eye contact with his teammates daring them to ask him about the cactus. Sam had a bewildered look on her face as she read the name tag. Shyama had a small smile and Brad quirked an eyebrow and looked at him.

"It was a gift," he said a little defensively. Quickly he pulled out the basics: a bin of pens, container with coloured paperclips, safety pins, tacks-shoved in the top drawer. He put a box of granolas in the bottom drawer and a couple water bottles. This was followed with a mini sewing kit and a large bag of ground coffee beans. They had disgusting coffee here.

Continuing to speak he said, "We don't have a case and we will be working cold cases for a few days before Vance sticks us back on the roster. Brend you will remain my SFA, you were quite capable in that role and I see no reason to change things. And of course Lee will be the probie of the team. Back to the sharing, I can go first. "

He looked over to see that Sam and Shyama had found their seats and looked a little more relaxed. A silent conversation passed between the two and Tony wondered what it was about. On his right he saw that Brad had put out a plastic file divider and a Hawkeye mouse pad. The drawer was still a bit open and he saw a container, similar to his own, with necessary office items. The Italian brightened when Brad placed a three picture frame with images of his wife and himself. She was beautiful and looked kind of spunky with a couple piercings showing since her long hair was tucked behind her ear. It seemed that was the final item and Brad found a seat, spinning chair squealing in response to the new weight.

Looks like Brad took the spot that held the old probie, thought Tony. It had been empty for a while. DiNozzo grinned widely and debated leaving it squeaky, but decided not to considering the poor guy would hate it. If it had been his chair he totally would have let it squeak, but instead he quickly reached into his not quite empty box, pulling out the Mighty Mouse stapler, an old rag and a small container of Olive oil.

"Better fix that first." He said, looking at the relief written on all three faces. Brad stood up; as did Tony who walked closer to Brad making motions that he would fix it. "Go ahead and lift it off the ground; I'll put a bit of oil on the wheels and along any joined metal areas and that should do the trick."

A few squirts and cloth movements later and he rolled the chair experimentally. There was a faint squeak so he got to his knees adding a bit more oil and rolled the chair from his spot on the ground.

"That should do it." DiNozzo nodded smiling for probably the tenth time that morning. He almost rolled his eyes at himself. Brad appeared to have a satisfied look on his face directed at Tony and Tony found himself wondering what that was about. He glanced at both Sam and Shyama and found them once more caught up in a silent conversation that involved eyebrow raising and shrugs and gave him nothing to go on.

"Well, now that my work as a handyman is completed, back to the main goal this morning: getting to know each other. It can always be awkward when you first start out as a team. I remember my experience with my boss-it was pretty uninformative. He looked me up and down after I arrived at work and nodded his head. We didn't have any formal get to know you crap-it was learn as you go. And while I see the good in that approach, there's no need for us to walk on tip-toes around each other."

He stopped making eye contact with them, no longer looking to see what they thought of this idea. Instead, Tony dabbed a bit at the soil of his cactus-did that thing need to be watered? Maybe he should Google it?

"I'll begin, I'm Anthony Dmitri DiNozzo, I have over fifteen years of law experience, I spent some time as a beat cop before I came here as an agent and then worked my way up to SFA for Gibbs' team. I am really looking forward to being part of this team, you guys seem very capable and I know that I for one am lucky to be working with such skilled people. I mean that very sincerely. I'm sure that both Shyama and Sam know that I like to joke and goof around and can be seen as pretty immature. The thing is, I think that law enforcement is tough and it's important to smile as much as you can, so don't expect me to be like your typical boss. In fact, I plan to begin our time together with new nicknames for everyone." He grinned like a devious pirate. The responses were widespread: a small smirk from Shyama, a confused look from Brad who had no idea what he was getting into and an eye roll from Sam.

"I just feel that familiarity is important, guys, and names can be soo formal. Sam, you will be known as Alexa, or maybe Alexis or some variation depending on my mood. Shyama, I plan to call you Shyamalon or just Night for short. And Brad, I dub thee Bradley. If I am feeling really silly I may mix it up a little. You can feel free to call me Tony at any time in fact I prefer that to Sir or Boss, but you can call me any version of head honcho that you wish to." The silence in the room was awkward, like a dance performance gone badly. The audience had no idea how to respond based on their perplexed expressions. He plodded on bravely.

"And that brings me to my next point. I have some goals for this team and as a team I think it is important that we are all on the same page, so I want to share them and I expect you guys to apply them. First off respect is really important to me. Maybe you think I don't need to state this, that it is just assumed. I don't think it is always assumed. You are to respect each other and myself no matter what actions occur.

"Do not misunderstand me, you are free to disagree with me and I relish that, but it is to be done respectfully. We are a team and I do not want to see us pulling each other down. I want you to know that I am very capable of being a leader despite my appearance as immature or a goof. This will become clear, I hope, as time goes on and we work together. I also want to have a strong relationship with you guys. This is a unique job. Trust is crucial. Trust requires friendship and that will require honesty on everyone's part. I don't know about you guys, but for me I was always told to keep my problems to myself, deal with any hitches alone, but I don't think that is healthy or smart.

"My motto is smarter not harder. Why make this job any harder on ourselves? I want to be able to rely on you guys and I want you to rely on me. That is why I wanted to begin by sharing, that doesn't mean we all need to sit on pillows in a sharing circle and talk about our feelings right now. That would be dumb, you don't even know me. But, I hope that is possible in the future." He could see that they believed what he was saying and all appeared to nod their heads at various times in confirmation of what he had to say. "And how about Alexa goes next?"

She glared, "I may kill you, Boss, if you continue to call me Alexa, and that is not an idle threat." Sam paused for a long dramatic moment and he simply continued to smile. "So you guys know my name, and if anyone but Tony calls me by my middle name they will die. I am not joking." The look she gave was dead serious-like a bull before it guts you. She continued, "I spent a good five years as a marine, I come from a big family, seven kids and I am smack dab in the middle. Two of my older brothers became marines, and well the job appealed to me. Most would say that I'm tough, and I like to work hard. I like to believe that I am making a difference in this world. Tony and I are definitely two very different people. Discipline is something that I stress, but I can respect our differences and I think we will bring balance to each other. I like his idea of becoming tight knit; trust is a big deal, especially to marines, and he is right: a friendship of sorts is very necessary for trust. I hope to rely on you guys and I want you to know that I will be loyal to this team." She nodded, short blonde side bangs moving a little and she reached up to push them behind her ear, running her hands through the shorter than shoulder length hair.

"Thanks, Alexa, I appreciate you backing me up, and I am up for a challenge with you any day on your name. Actually, I would enjoy sparring with all of you from time to time. Keep me on my toes, and prove I'm not some lightweight. Shyamalon?"

"Hi, Shyama Kandar is my name. I would say that I am probably the techie of this group. Computers, technology, and any questions you have I know or can find out the answers." She punctuated this confident statement with a firm nod. "If any of you need any help with viruses, etcetera, please let me know. Beyond that, I have worked hard to be physically capable. I may not be as tough as you guys, but I can carry my weight. I love my job as well and I believe that we are definitely making a difference. As far as family goes, I am an only child, adopted when I was a baby, and raised by my Dad when my Mom passed away. Furthermore, I want to be friends with all of you." The slim Indian sat up straighter, tanned arms coming to rest in her lap and big brown eyes shining. Her youth was evident in her features, thought Tony.

Brad Lee spoke up next without Tony's prompting, saying, "Really, you're going to call me Bradley, I have been fighting my nerdy Asian heritage forever and that is what you came up with?" There was a glance towards Tony that clearly expected an answer.

"Sorry, Brad. Lee. It just has such a nice ring to it, besides no one likes their nicknames," responded the team lead.

"I don't think I agree with that, I get the feeling that if we come up with any nicknames for you, you would like them. In fact I can just see you putting a check next to "team bonding" on this list of goals in your mind."

DiNozzo grinned even wider at the banter. "I will neither deny nor confirm that statement, take it as a challenge."

"Mmhm. Well leaving that conversation for later. I have a bit more of a background than you guys. I uhh, didn't really grow up wanting to fight crime." He said with a weak laugh. "I was raised on tough streets and I joined a gang at a young age. About seven years ago I was arrested for murder and I went to jail for five years. But, I was innocent, wrong place, wrong time: perfect fit. I didn't want to be there, and well I studied up in jail and passed the bar and eventually proved my innocence. Then I decided to become a cop, stop idiotic things like that from happening. The job of a lawyer really holds no appeal to me. That's pretty much the concise version of my story. Beyond that sob story, I'm also married, have been for three years to my beautiful wife who really stood by me. I believe that I will also be an asset to this team. The idea of friendship and trust appeals to me and I look forward to working on this team. Thank you, Tony, for taking a chance on the guy everyone steered clear of." Tony saw that Brad avoided making eye contact with the two other teammates, perhaps giving them time to compose a face, and instead chose to look at the boss.

Tony steeled his eyes and nodded, "It was no problem, Brad, and believe me, I for one know that you have a great deal of unique knowledge and experience to offer. Our team is very well rounded and we will as Sam said, balance each other out."

Before he could continue he was interrupted by various affirmative noises from both girls in the direction of Brad. He smiled to himself as he saw the acceptance in their eyes, welcoming from Shyama and understanding from Sam. Brad didn't smile exactly, but the harsher look on his face seemed to disappear, almost like a puppet losing its strings, the furrows around his eyebrows drooped out of sight.

At that Tony realized he had a few more things that needed to be said, "In the pursuit of honesty, I feel it would be good to let you know that I came out of a rough undercover op a few weeks ago. I have been given total leave by the doctor to work, and the stitches are all out, but just thought it good to let you know, in case you hear something. I am known around here as someone who doesn't exactly love doctors, and am quick to leave the hospital, but I would never put my team at risk and am perfectly fine." He spotted a few concerned looks, but he waved them away. Okay, he attempted to wave them away.

Shyama and Brad still appeared worried, and Sam had a look of scrutiny. The silence confirmed his need to explain a bit more.

"Really, guys, honestly like I said the stitches are out. It was a hard case that didn't necessarily end the best, but I am one hundred percent fit for duty now."

"Boss, did you really think that second explanation was any better than the first one? I don't even think we can call that an explanation." Said Brad drily, looking to his co-workers for agreement.

Brend spoke up, "Boss, let's be honest here, we are going to let you get away with your secrets this time because we weren't your team during that op, but next time, you better be expecting to give a hell of a lot more detail."

Tony felt his chest warm and dipped his head in acquiescence.

**αααααα αααααα **

Sam stared at their new boss and tried to get a read on him. He seemed pretty focused right now, which was why she could stare so freely. The blonde had a feeling he knew nonetheless. She did not plan on underestimating this man who somehow managed to get the job as their boss through a man who previously thought so little of him. Said new boss had his eyes on the paper, pupils scanning rapidly back and forth. The man certainly appeared to care about every case, even the cold ones, if the effort he was putting forth said anything. He also clearly cared about his appearance if the fancy "schmancy" suit and tie said anything. Brown hair was carefully mussed, and his moss-grey tie brought out the green in what she thought were hazel eyes.

Yep, it was completely understandable that the ladies would pursue him. She hoped that his ego wasn't too large. On top of appearance he evidently had a great deal of charisma. Sam thought back to the statement she made earlier, _Boss, let's be honest here, we are going to let you get away with your secrets this time because we weren't your team during that op, but next time, you better be expecting to give a hell of a lot more detail. _When had he become part of their team and how did such a loyal statement come out of her mouth so quickly?

Trust did not come easy to her and he was still in the middle of earning it. Although he had made a good impression on her so far, he certainly had quite the large amount of gossip surrounding him. Much was good and much more couldn't be classified as bad but fell somewhere on the grey scale. Of course it also all depended on the source, much "good" came from tittering girls with various lay positions. If she wanted to do more research on him it would be hard. This wasn't like applying for a job where she could seek information by talking up coworkers. She already knew the situation and would never seek out any of his previous co-workers for answers. Observation would be the best bet on learning what made Anthony DiNozzo tick.

Sam stopped to look at her computer screen, it was only 10:00 a.m.; they still had so much time left. The first few hours had passed quickly, she had focused on the cases before her and worked to block out other thoughts. Her mind had yet to settle and there were too many questions. Within the blink of an eye her whole life had been changed. It was completely unexpected and totally outside of her own control. Of course she could always quit, but that really wasn't an option; she wasn't willing to give up the stability this job offered, not unless she truly hated her boss and couldn't get rid of him.

Whether this train of thought was a good thing or not remained unclear. She certainly wasn't going to voice to her boss that if he failed to pass muster his life would become hell until he quit or she gave up. Her grey eyes twinkled and the grin she failed to hide drew the attention of said boss. The most innocent look she could draw was plastered on her face when she made eye contact. His eyebrow arched in question and hers did right back in response. She could play this game all day long. Still, there was work to be done, so she determinedly looked back down to the case file. If she glanced at him periodically throughout the day, and possibly eyed his weird cactus and maybe debated asking Shyama to work her magic with the computer to find more on Tony, well she would just chalk that up to observation. Also, she certainly didn't find him likeable; that was yet to be established.

**αααααα αααααα **

Sam rubbed her hands through her blond locks, mussing them up a little and then rubbed her eyes. The papers in front of her were definitely beginning to blur. She jabbed the small stain of mayonnaise deeper into her pant leg rebuking its presence. Her eyes next turned to the clock; fortunately quitting time was coming up soon.

The entire day Gibbs and the rest of her boss' old team had stayed completely clear of him. In fact Tony had spent most of the day with the team, alternating between working and bothering them by being an overall pest. He threw airplanes that contained pick me ups to each of her teammates with an accuracy that depressed her. Unfortunately, she could see that it impressed Shyama because she smiled. Brad seemed to be secretly amused and bewildered at the same time. Sam again glared down at the mayonnaise and thought back to lunch. Technically not all of Gibbs' team had steered clear, the ME assistant, Palmer, had shown up to take DiNozzo out to lunch. Weird choice of friend, was always pretty quiet when she went down to autopsy and the guy had stuttered through an awkward hello. After some consideration she had come to the conclusion that Palmer had more below the surface, what exactly, she had no idea, but something drew him to Tony. DiNozzo's eyes had lit up and the smile on his face seemed somehow more comfortable than it had throughout the day. There was genuine warmth to it. Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of paper's wrinkling and the clearing of a throat.

"Well, guys, I think it is high time you got out of here. It has been a long day and working cold cases is something that requires a fresh mind, I don't want you to waste time sitting here doing subpar work because your brain stopped seeing words and started seeing black and white squiggles. Let's clean up and I will see you all tomorrow morning."

She watched as everyone began to shuffle their papers, including Tony. Was he the type to stay late after everyone else, she wondered. It didn't seem like it tonight, although maybe he was still avoiding his old team.

The situation was pretty dreadful and she was surprised that he chose a position in the same building. She wondered if Vance knew the answers to any of her questions and why he singled Tony out for the job. Either way, she was glad that she was not in his shoes, with a former marine and a former Mossad as co-workers she assumed that he would get some kind of house visit. Unless he moved? Would he have moved, she wondered, to avoid them?

With that last thought her papers were officially gathered. She looked up from her musings and said her goodbyes.

**Sooo, what didja think? :D Tell me, go review please please :).**

**And go see IRONMAN 3 ;) lol**

**Thanks for reading, **

**Kalvinanne**


	13. Chapter 13

**:D**

**A new chapter is finally up! Thank you guys as usual for the amazing feedback. Seriously I could live on reviews, I am not kidding. **

**I got a few comments asking about Nala and the girls and they will be coming back in the next chapter. I have so much that I want to write hahah, but I'm not speedy enough to get everything out. However, I did get a bit of a start on the case and I also brought Ducky who has been strangely silent...**

**Also, to any of my reviewers who might be a bit squeamish you might want to avoid the first set of italics. We get to look at a bit of Tony's undercover op that went bad, personally I don't think I went too grim, but I know everybody has different preferences so I wanted to give the warning :). You should be able to follow the story by just skipping over that and into the non-italicized section.**

**Thank you as usual to my phenomenal beta! Mike**

**Please review and as usual can't wait to hear what you guys think, bad or good :D**

**NCIS is not mine :( I just borrow the characters and play with them...**

Tim surreptitiously peered across the room in the direction of Team DiNozzo's sectioned off area. He really wished he could pull off the Gibbs sneak attack. Sadly, those were skills he lacked, so wandering over to their side to see what exactly they were doing and how the new "team" seemed to mesh was not a possibility.

It seemed that Team DiNozzo was a source of contention for numerous reasons, beyond the Italian's painful departure and sudden promotion, there was apparently a new Probie, one who used to be in prison. McGee fought back a smirk; of course Tony would hire someone wrongly convicted of a crime, the man had been accused of felonies enough times. The ex-Probie wondered if Tony would share that with his new team member. He also wondered how Tony would run the new team. Would he do those ridiculous team campfires, something Tim was never sure were actually effective. Would he try to be Gibbs, Tim hoped not, the man was incapable of pulling off the grouchy Marine.

The young agent was abruptly pulled out of his musings with a sharp smack to the back of the head, "You're not being paid to daydream, and you may think you only have a half hour left, but you still have numerous forms to file. I expect those done before you leave." Gibbs said and left, probably went for another coffee.

Tim almost scowled at his boss, barely refraining from an indignant response.

"What is that your tenth head-slap today?" Ziva smirked arrogantly.

Tim said nothing, but directed what he hoped was an unimpressed look her way. He could a feel a headache coming on, one that was part head-slap and part stress induced. Certainly he had experienced this amount of work before, he had briefly been team lead and Tony had given him the exact same workload, but, somehow he felt completely overwhelmed this time. DiNozzo had been encouraging, helpful, showed him the ropes. He winced and rubbed his temple, then quickly looked to see if Gibbs had somehow managed to return.

"Looking for someone?" said Ziva with a knowing look.

"Gibbs always seemed to come whenever Tony said something bad or looked bad, and he seems to be doing the same for me," the young agent said, attempting to keep the whine out of his voice.

"Then you will have to stop making mistakes, yes?" the dark haired agent said with an upturned brow. She too was busy typing something.

"Of course that would be the answer you come up with," Tim said with near growl.

"Touchy," she smirked.

He full on glared at the reply. Not that it did much. The only people who glared properly on this team were Ziva and Gibbs. Both had completely different glares and each was effective. McGee knew he had yet to accomplish that. Tim was irked, not only with her response, but the fact that she managed to get the American idiom right.

"I'm going downstairs; I need some information from Ducky." With that McGee quickly escaped the conversation. As he made it to the elevator he attempted to slow his pace, there was already enough gossip going around, no need to confirm how lost he felt, how out of his depth Tim was. Within a few moments he was down and walking into the morgue. The familiar surroundings seemed somehow different than before. All the drawers which may or may not hold bodies, the slab that Ducky was currently wiping down, seemed bleaker. He couldn't explain it.

"Timothy, what brings you down here?" said Ducky, interrupting his thoughts.

"I came for a few more details on the body and wounds, to aid in my write up of the case. Some of the specifics have slipped my mind and of course as SFA I have to have every little bit of detail." He tried to smile when he said this, make it a joke.

"Really, Timothy, wouldn't the phone have taken less time? I know that Jethro has been working the team quite hard since Anthony's departure and you are sure to need every minute," the older gentleman said all of this without even looking up. He didn't sound angry per say, but he was distracted, not really paying attention to Tim.

"Yeah, the phone would have been the logical choice, but I wanted to chat with you for a bit," said Tim with hesitancy in his voice. He looked around the room again, trying to find a reason for the cold feeling he had in his chest. It looked the same: bare walls, metal covering most surfaces, ugly mottled floor to hide any blood stain. If someone could read his thoughts they would probably laugh and remind him that it was a coroner's office, thinking that was the reason for the ominous feeling in his chest. But that was the problem: it had never felt like that before, even though it was a morgue.

Finally Ducky's voice rang out in the mostly quiet room, "I spoke with you earlier today about the details of the corporal's stab wounds."

Tim stiffened. Was Dr. Mallard angry? In all his time working here he could only imagine a few moments when the good natured doctor grew frustrated and that was usually at either Gibbs or DiNozzo for avoiding medical care. Ducky's ire had never been directed at himself. He couldn't figure out what to say, should he ask straight out?

"Ducky, I came for a bit of company," he paused, "it's been a tough couple of days." stated the young agent softly.

Finally the old doctor looked up from his work, "I'm sure it has been. You have a lot of responsibility on your shoulders now."

Tim listened to the words and wondered if he had misread the anger. During those times that Ducky grew frustrated with DiNozzo or Gibbs he had never been outright angry. It was impossible to know what an angry Ducky would act like, the short clipped responses could be anger and now that he thought back to the weekend of work, Ducky had been fairly quiet. Tim didn't think that he had heard a single story, then again, it wasn't like he had really been paying attention, the entire team had been short a member and everyone was a little distracted.

McGee looked over to the short doctor and saw that he had returned to his work. Maybe he should just ask him.

"Umm, Ducky, are you okay?"

"Now, why would you ask me that, Timothy?"

"You just seem a little off today. I don't know, maybe I'm just being dumb. I could be reading you completely wrong. It's just you aren't really talking that much and usually you talk a lot." Tim cut off the babble that could go on forever. He looked at the coroner and saw the man still had his eyes focused on cleaning; he had moved on from the table and seemed to be aimlessly wiping things down.

Finally, Ducky stopped the cleaning and looked up, "You are correct, I have been a little bit off," the older gentleman paused and seemed to collect his thoughts. "I'm rather unhappy, Timothy. I am very displeased about the way things turned out for Anthony."

"You-" Timothy went to speak up, but was cut off by Ducky's hand.

"No, I do not refer to his job. He deserved the new position and I am extremely happy to hear that he was promoted. What I am so upset about is the way he left this team, the hurt that he experienced and the fact that his entire team cornered him like thugs and then proceeded to throw insults like punches." The coroner grew quieter as he spoke, but the underlying anger was easily evident.

McGee stiffened at the last comment and tried to defend himself, "But, Ducky, he didn't even tell us he was leaving, he just up and disappeared. Don't you think he deserved the response he got?"

"Timothy. All four of you-Jethro, Ziva and Abby along with yourself-how could you jump so quickly to anger? Maybe it is my old age that makes me slow to anger, but youth is really no excuse. Anthony was your teammate and your friend, didn't you question his decision, why weren't you guys worried? Why wasn't your first response concern?" The usually quiet doctor finally raised his voice as he concluded the defense of Tony.

McGee stopped the defensive argument he had waiting the second Ducky's voice changed in tenor. He felt his shoulders droop and the somber mood in the morgue suddenly seemed that much clearer. It wasn't the area, it was the person.

"Ducky…I…" Tim let the silence linger after those first few words. He had no idea what else to say. The older man was no longer looking at him. McGee walked a bit closer, leaving his position just inside the doorway, and putting a hand on Dr. Mallard's shoulder. He tried to express with his eyes that he was sorry. McGee had a feeling the words would mean little.

"You don't need to apologize to me," said the doctor more kindly then before; gripping the younger man's shoulder in turn. "And, Timothy, you may quite possibly find that if you make things right with Tony he will help to relieve the stress you are under."

The fact that Ducky walked out and didn't say a single word more showed that he was probably a lot more troubled then he appeared. Tim pondered that, did Ducky know why Tony left? What would make Ducky this angry? Sure the fact that they all, "cornered him like thugs", which Tim thought seemed rather harsh, was worth getting upset about, but angry enough to just walk away, to raise his voice? There had to be another reason. What could it be, what could Ducky know that they didn't? Tim left the morgue closing the door on his way out and stood in front of the elevator.

He continued to think as he walked. Ducky had known Tony longer than both himself and Ziva, but not any longer than Gibbs. Gibbs was just as angry, so the knowledge so the knowledge that Ducky had was beyond Gibbs as well. Tim knew Ducky was Tony's medical examiner, meaning it could have something to do with Tony's health. However, that wouldn't really make any sense: if Tony had an illness of some sort then he wouldn't be the team lead, Ducky wouldn't allow it. Maybe it simply came down to personality? Tim didn't think personality alone would inspire such, such-loyalty. "Loyalty" was definitely the right word now that Tim thought about it.

The elevator opened with a ping. He stepped in trying to figure out what to do about this new information. Technically speaking he had two choices: he could let whatever was going on with Tony just pass by or talk to Tony. Tim could simply go on with his life, but that would mean losing someone he considered a good friend. Beyond the fact that as Ducky said, Tony had experience and could help him, there was the problem of Ducky's anger. If the anger was rightly placed then he didn't want to look back on this with regret or shame; Tim did not want to let Tony down. In the end there really was only one choice.

The elevator went up to the main floor and who should get on, but agent DiNozzo. Tim thought he was going to jump out of his skin. Tony didn't even blink, he didn't smirk or laugh he just stepped on and hit the button for the parking lot. Tim watched as the doors to the floor he should have stopped at closed and he stayed silent as they went to the ground floor.

He tried desperately to make sense of his muddled thoughts-what the heck should he say? The lights above the elevator doors glowed and then lost their light. Time was ticking down like a bomb and he had a feeling that if he didn't speak soon the words would explode from him in a mess.

"Tony-" he burst out.

"Agent McGee?" Tony replied, lacking any warm familiarity. The old DiNozzo would have most certainly found the words for him, but this new person-pod person as Tony might say with a reference to some funny movie-was not giving him any help whatsoever.

The silence was loud in his ears and Tim quickly tried to pull himself together. He was a Senior Field Agent, a successful writer and he was capable of speaking to his co-worker.

"Tony, I mean, Agent DiNozzo, could we speak, if now isn't a good time I can talk any time. I just would really like to have a conversation."

Tony stopped the clipped pace he had begun out towards the parking garage, pivoting to look at him. "Are you sure you really want to talk, agent?"

"I'm positive," stated McGee very firmly. "I don't want things to end between us and I don't want to lose the friendship we had."

Tony appeared to look around the area. There was nobody around, however it was the official closing time and agents from various ranks and teams would likely be making their way to the parking garage. Tim wondered if the older agent would invite him to his house. That seemed rather personal.

"We can chat in my car. I'll drive around a bit and you can speak."

The two men silently walked to the car, Tim a little bit behind the other, following because the destination was unknown to him. He tried not to gripe in his head about the fact that once again he was the one following. Sometimes Tim felt like a well-trained pet and he desperately wanted to chew off the leash holding him back.

Finally they made it to the car and swiftly found their seats. Tony pulled out and exited the parking garage, turning down a residential side road. Once they had been driving for a few minutes, the creepishly solemn Tony gave him a nod to begin speaking.

Tim bit back his ire at once again allowing Tony to lead. He needed to make things right and pride would only lead to his frustration and that would not make for a nice conversation.

"I, well, I need to say a few things. First, I want to say congratulations on gaining the opportunity to lead your own team. I guess in the confusion I never got the chance to say so and that was very wrong on my part. I know that if I ever received any type of commendation you would probably throw some kind of silly party, or do something to praise me. And umm, I think I should be apologizing, but I don't really know what for, but I know that something went wrong, or I did something, or we did something. Because, Tony, you are clearly upset or hurt by us. And I know that you are always in a good mood and optimistic, at least on the surface, and you aren't any more so we must have royally screwed up. So I'm sorry about that. And well. I think that is all." He paused, but then realized he wasn't quite done, "I mean you have certainly pissed me off numerous times with your pranks and nicknames, but I can handle that and I know you are just trying toughen me up. And maybe we just never were meant to be that tight, we are very different. I'm the geek and you're the cool kid. But I still remember you coming to my house that day I shot that guy. You were there for me. I owe you one and this apology that I don't really understand I hope it begins to cover that."

Tim had held his chin up through the conversation and focused on watching Tony's reaction. The dark haired agent had his eyes on the road and Tim saw very little reaction on his face, though there was a slight tightening of his hands on the steering wheel initially. The car was filled with the noise of acceleration and nothing else: no cars anywhere close.

Suddenly, in a very Gibbs-like maneuver Tony made a U-turn. Tim grabbed the door and his arm rest. By the time he righted himself and looked to Tony with a little indignation Tony seemed to have stopped being a pod person. There was a hint of a smile, not the bright Tony smile, but at least the expressionless face was no longer present.

"Tim, thanks for following me out to the parking garage and thanks for the congratulations and the apology. Both mean a lot. Also, congratulations on becoming Senior Field Agent. And well, as for the rest, I think I'm going to give you a bit of time to try and work it out. But, if at the end of the month you still feel amicable towards me, knock on my front door and I will explain to you exactly why I left without keeping many of the details from you."

Tim nodded at the odd response, "Okay. I will be here in a month, Tony. Good luck with your new team." And that was that. The entire encounter was a little stilted, but they ended on peaceful terms and he felt like he had chipped away at the wall between them.

"Also, you might wanna rush back to your paperwork, Gibbs will find extra work for you as punishment if he finds you skipped out for too long."

Tim gulped at that, but screw Gibbs. He would never say that out loud. However, his thoughts were safe from Gibbs, actually that probably wasn't true either, but, the truth of the matter was that he had to talk to Tony and he didn't see it happening at work, or at the man's house. And it needed to happen sooner rather than later. Gibbs would have to deal, or maybe Tim would just accept the paperwork and keep his head down for the next day or two.

**αααααα αααααα**

_Tony tried desperately to control the minute flinching of his body. His arm muscles were twitching ever so slightly from the strain of holding his body up for numerous hours. The weight of his own body rested on his wrists and upper arm muscles. It was easy to keep a straight face, to fill his expression with contempt and rage, but the body was hard to control. He had a firm grip on his emotions, but as each blade cut open more of his flesh he had to hold onto his resolve much more firmly._

_The questions asked of him were but a blur in the background. He could no longer focus on anything but the pain and the anger. His abdomen muscles were persistently tensed against the methodical carving. The slices were going a little bit deeper than before and seemed to be crossing over old wounds, blood was everywhere. None had been life threatening as of yet. It was obvious that the interrogator was practiced and despite the burning pain that seemed to come from everywhere, he knew that none of the wounds were overly deep. Tony took breaths to still the panic that he could feel encroaching on his mind. He needed to focus on something else, maybe the numb feeling in his arched feet._

_He heard a wet smack and accidentally breathed in through his nose at the surprise of a hand hitting his body. Salt, blood and sweat filled his senses and he fought back the urge to vomit at the smell of his own blood. Just as quickly he snapped out of the suffocating bitter smell when a wet hand slapped his face hard enough to draw his attention back to the scene at hand._

_The blow turned into a caress and as he focused on the hand he realized that the man was rubbing Tony's blood onto his face. _

"_Antony, if that is your real name, why do you look so beautiful dripping in blood? I didn't imagine such a well-kept body lay under those baggy shirts and ugly torn jeans you had on. You are quite the little deceiver. You're obviously not quite as bloodthirsty or as heartless as you appeared to be, giving yourself up for that pathetic whore."_

_Tony waited to see what would happen next, it was the first time the boss had shown up since the interrogation began. He didn't say a word in response._

"_Ohh, cat got your tongue?" He grabbed Tony's chin firmly in his crimson painted hand, "He tells me you haven't said a word, but don't worry, we're just warming up. I so love the smell of blood, don't you? I think it's a nice way to start things." _

_Tony was unable to wrench his chin from the man's beefy hands so he stared him down nonchalantly. This would leave lovely little finger bruises on his face._

_He suddenly felt his head whip to the side as another wet smack struck him. DiNozzo coughed as he swallowed blood and smiled realizing his teeth were bloody and the red handprints on his face were probably quite gruesome looking given the flinches of two of the grunts. _

"_Antony, Antony. Why must you put up such a front? We all know you are cringing on the inside."_

_Tony spit out some of the blood, "Lorence, Lorence, don't you know you will have to do better than that if you want me to actually get close to inspiring any fear?" he rasped out, mouth dry except for the blood. _

_Tony watched as the man slowly took a step back and began to crack his knuckles, his sneer turned into a snarl._

"_Well I guess we will just have to make things a little more painful."_

_Tony smirked, whatever that man thought he could dish out, Tony could handle._

_However, as the man took both hands and drew his nail tipped fingers down Tony's chest, said nails caught themselves on the ridges that now made up his flesh. All of his muscles began to cringe and Tony choked back a scream._

_He forced his eyes to open and tried to keep the blackness at bay that encroached on his lids. Anxiously, he tried to draw in air-_

Abruptly he realized his arms were no longer bound above his head. He blinked and saw darkness. Tony tried to breathe in deeply, but he could still taste blood. Coughing severely he brought one hand to rub at his throat. He needed to figure out where the hell he was. Clearly he wasn't tied up, but his thoughts were a mess in his mind. It felt like there was blood drenching his body. The Italian brought a shaky hand down to try and wipe away at whatever coated his unsteady form. Quite quickly he discovered that he was covered in sweat.

It was a dream.

He could still taste blood, he could still smell Lorence's dirty oily body, but the comforter was on top of him and he knew he was in bed. Tony got up, peeled back the sheets and slowly walked closer to the door so that he could turn on the lights. Lights improved the situation. The straight planes of his dressers and the frames on his wall were all familiar. Looked down to his body, for a brief moment the sweat looked red; his eyelids opened and shut frantically. A shower would be necessary. He looked over at his bed sheets, those would need to go.

Almost manically he strode over to the bed yanking the comforter off and tossing it to the floor, ripping the sheets from their corners and bunching them into one messy ball. He shook out the pillows from their cocoons and soon had a messy pile of fabric. Grabbing an armful he attempted to carry it all down the hall, tripping on the dangling pieces. Soon he had them tossed into a pile near the front door, they could be brought to the laundry room later. He wasn't in any state to go outside and possibly run into someone at-he paused to look at the clock in foyer, but couldn't seem to focus on the numbers.

Tony strode into the living room and wiped a hand over his eyes, eluding sleep, wiping sweat and frustration away. It was 4 a.m. A shower was necessary.

The nightmares weren't a surprise at all, nor were the vividness of them. He had been forced to see a department shrink for a few weeks after the case and she had even said that he would probably have them on and off for months after-big surprise there. Pausing in his mad stomp through the hallways to the bathroom he tried to calm his rage. The frenzied temper was expected, he always woke from these in the same mind frame as the dream and the indignation he had fixated on then took time to ease in the now.

Yes, a shower was required, and sleep after…well, that was never a sure thing.

Oh well, at least they would be put on the case roster today. That should be distraction enough, hopefully.

**αααααα αααααα**

"'Kay, guys, we have our first case. Bradley you have the keys, lets head out. I can brief you guys on the way since we have a half hour drive. Let's go." The team quickly got together their stuff and Tony tossed the keys to Brad.

Fairly efficiently, they made their way out through the maze of desks and short dividing walls that led to the elevator. There were some awkward bumps into each other as they attempted to get their stuff off their desks and leave, but Tony just grinned watching the team's efforts to interact successfully and coordinate their moves. Alexa scowled when she ran into Brad, but Brad did not respond, meanwhile Shyama stood still waiting for everyone else to leave only to have Tony purposefully stop in front of her causing her face to collide with his back. She turned red and glared at him.

Once outside near the car again came an uncomfortable pause as they tried to figure out where to sit. Eventually they settled with Shyama and Sam in back and Tony in the passenger seat.

"So, what's up, Head Honcho?" said Sam sarcastically. He just grinned happily to her chagrin.

"Okay, getting down to business, Brad just follow the GPS system," Tony says while putting in the address. "So, team, we have a dead marine, big surprise there right. Private Mark Drey was found by some friends slash coworkers-Private Brang and Coreus-back in his room. He died from alcohol poisoning. On first glance he appears to have drunk himself well past intoxication before he lost consciousness and eventually asphyxiated on his own vomit. We are going in to verify accidental, suicide or murder. Apparently his friends think it was murder so we will get more on that once we get there. Now, time for some team trivia. What is your favorite thing to do at the crime scene and why?"

The responses he received were priceless. Brad quirked his eyebrows and stared. If the gleam in his eye said anything, he was torn between confusion and anticipation. Shyama appeared startled and thoughtful, the good little book worm. Alexa just scowled some more. She would be a tough egg to crack. Although, he reminded himself, she called you Head Honcho.

"Okay, Lexy, you first," he tapped Sam on the arm, to which she responded by stiffening and narrowing her eyes.

"First, seriously, Tony? Lexy, really? You said you wanted honesty, well I do not like being called anything but Sam. I hate the name Lexy more than Alexa in fact. And my favorite thing to do is sketch the scene, I don't enjoy asking people questions, I dislike having to wade through their crap, despite the necessity of it."

"Thank you for your honesty, and well, we shall see about the nickname." Tony grinned, "Bradley?"

"I don't really know yet, they are all jobs that need to be done, and well, in combination they solve our case for us. Each is necessary and I don't think I favor one over the other at this point," was his thoughtful reply.

"Shyamalon?"

She smiled and responded quietly, "Listening to what people have to say is my favored choice. I feel that their thoughts are so crucial to our investigation, despite their biases. And I enjoy wading through what they are saying and what they should be saying."

"That's quite the mix of thoughts."

"What about you, Tony?" asked Shyama after the vehicle had been silent for a few minutes.

He was startled out of his thoughts. DiNozzo smiled, saying, "My favorite job is sketching and taking pictures of the crime scene. I like to make certain that I have all of the evidence exactly as it appears, that way when I start playing out scenarios and coming up with ideas I always have that to go back to and to keep me on track."

Shyama nodded and smiled in agreement, whereas Sam seemed a little taken aback by his serious response. Brad smirked at Sam and she frowned at him.

**αααααα αααααα**

Silence filled the large utility vehicle. All four members had a decent amount of space. The two ladies had their hands in their lap. Shyama looked at their leader furtively, his eyes appeared slightly glazed over. Next, she noticed that Sam was avoiding eye contact by looking out the window at the passing scenery. Brad too avoided the others and kept his eyes on the road or GPS. Tony unconsciously seemed to be tapping a rhythm on his leg while glancing at each of his team mates respectively. He caught her eyes once and the two smiled recognizing their mutual desire to observe.

Shyama was trying to get up the nerve to talk again. She felt bad for the guy. Things were slightly stilted amongst the team. This was mostly Agent DiNozzo's doing. It was because of his fairly blunt and odd leadership style. At the moment Shyama was unsure how to define it verbally. He asked for respect, rather than demanding it, and he was not overbearing. While many of the other leaders at NCIS were not quite as terrifying as Jethro Gibbs, she did not know of any that were quite as welcoming as Anthony DiNozzo. Her teammates didn't know how to handle it. They weren't insubordinate yet, but at the same time they were actually more willing to voice their thoughts, which was what he was probably aiming for. But, it was just plain difficult to work as a team when there was this uncomfortableness between members.

Sam was definitely acting out of character. In their years working together Shyama would sum her up as confident, capable and loyal. Currently the blonde didn't seem to know what to make of DiNozzo. It was clear the loyalty part hadn't quite set in, but on top of that, her confidence seemed to be ever so slightly shaken. Shyama had a feeling that the two, possibly three-if Brad were included, would talk over drinks tonight. Every couple of weeks Sam and herself would get together to chat. It was nice, she thought reminiscently. Sometimes they spoke about work, and at other times the two made small talk. Sam opened up a lot more and became slightly boisterous, a word that Shyama would not normally use to describe her.

Their old leader had never accompanied the duo, though they had invited her a few times. Shyama knew that Tony would certainly accept an invitation and in fact would love it, but that wouldn't be happening for a little while if ever. Sam would be the one to extend it, because in Shyama's opinion Sam was the most suspicious of their leader. Shyama on the other hand felt good about DiNozzo.

This past week had been fun. Yes, they had been stuck reading over case files, but DiNozzo livened things up infinitely. His silly airplanes amused her to no end. The man had excellent aim. Shyama really liked him, but then again she liked everyone, and though most would consider that a strength, she knew that it was also a weakness. Still, DiNozzo had gained her respect, which was more than a simple "like".

He was good at his job and had worked diligently on their cases, digging up more evidence for some and drawing ideas from herself and her coworkers. As a team they had managed to solve two cases based on input from everyone. The fact that he noticed her lack of defensive skills and then actually reached out to help her had really touched the young woman. Shyama thought back to his words yesterday morning.

**αααααα αααααα**

"_Shyama, you have so much to offer this team, I know you are devoted to your job and amazing at what you do, but I was wondering if you would want to work with me on your outward strength?" Shyama felt really embarrassed; of course he would notice that she was weak there. She wondered if he saw her as the weakest team member, however, he stopped her thoughts from progressing._

"_Shyama, don't take this as an insult, everyone on this team has weaknesses and strengths, everyone. I know that I can help you with this and I know the fact that you have less field experience probably bothers you. Soon enough you'll be like Sarah Connor in Terminator 2."_

_Shyama looked at him in confusion._

_He sighed exasperatedly, "First scene of the second movie she beats the crap out of some orderly with a freaking broken broom handle. Believe me when I say she didn't start out like that in Terminator 1."_

_She grinned a little at that comment, "I don't think that I desire those kinds of skills."_

"_Yes you do! Anyways…"_

**αααααα αααααα**

He had then gone off on a tangent about the woman's ridiculous skills with weapons and crazy breakout of an asylum despite being in a strait jacket. Eventually they managed to make plans to meet twice a week at six a.m. to train for an hour before work. Tony had seemed excited and it was contagious. Apparently, he already had some great ideas to simply show her how her small size could and would be an asset.

Agent Anthony DiNozzo was truly a better person than many gave him credit for. She wondered what depths were hidden under the many layers. Shortly after, she heard the staccato tappity-tap of his hand against his pants increase into a rapid drum solo.

Shyama glanced at the clock's red numbers: about ten minutes had passed while she thought, and the silence seemed to be killing the young man. It was impressive that he had held himself back long enough. Their boss could speak faster than a reprimanding Italian Grandma. She sat in her seat waiting for someone to open up, when of course Tony broke it, interrupting the monotonous sound of the outside traffic, their car AC and of course his tapping.

"Soo, I'm thinking we either chat our way through these car rides or listen to music. All in favor of music today say aye."

"Aye," smiled Shyama.

"Aye," muttered Sam.

"I'm all for that; what kind of music do you guys listen to?" asked Brad. The team quietly conversed on this subject for a bit and came to the conclusion that they would try out a variety of stations and switch them up seeing as none of them really listened to a great deal of music and thus didn't appear to have any favorites.

Finally they made it to the crime scene.

Tony established who was doing what and they set about their tasks. The group was paired up, he would be with the Probie and Alexa and Shyama would continue to work together as a team for the moment. They would sketch the scene and he and Brad would interview the friends of the dead private.

**Hope you liked it! please review... nudge nudge. :D**

**xoxox Kalvinanne**


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